Before I met you Lord Jesus I was covered by darkness and there was a great void in my heart. My life was chaotic and without meaning. Then the light of Christ shone into my heart and the darkness fled and I was filled with your glory. (John 17:22) The darkness had gone and a brand new day had begun and it was good. Then God said ” Let there be lights in the heavens.” And I looked at the night sky with eyes full of light and the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear “The heavens declare the glory of God.” (Psalm 19) In the darkness of the night I saw that there were billions of stars and the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear ” Lift up you eyes on high and see who has created theses things.” (Isa 40:26) And I was astonished that He knew them all by name. And then He whispered ” Have you not known, have you not heard, has it not been told to you from the beginning …………..it is I who sits above the circle of the earth…………..it is I who stretches out the heavens……………it is I who brings the princes to nothing……..to whom then shall you liken me………………………….

GLORIOUS MAJESTY

Hope and majesty surround you
You are covered by impenetrable light
You stretch out the heavens like a curtain
And you separate the day from the night

You ride upon chariots of fire
On the clouds that cover the sky
You walk upon the wings of the wind
We exalt you oh Lord on high

The seas flee away at your presence
And the mountains fall down at your feet
The valley’s they dance to see such things
And your enemies all suffer defeat

The birds all sing in the branches
Of the God who feeds them each day
The lions are fed and the mountain goats leap
The great fish of the deep they do play

The moon lights up the sky at night
And by day the sun warms the earth
You hold these things in the palm of your hand
And all these things you preserve

Hide your face and the whole world is troubled
Hold your breath and we crumble and die
Look away and the world falls to pieces
We are lost without our Lord on high

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live
I’ll tell the story, not the half but the whole
Of my glorious Father in heaven above
Bless the Lord oh my soul

“It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and
imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A
counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it,
 your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart
that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial
resources, on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and
making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and social standing.
It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and
comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause,
your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry. When your meaning in
life is to fix someone else’s life, we may call it “codependency” but it is really idolatry. An
idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my
life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” (Taken
from Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods)

Can it be said that America spends an outrageous amount of money on the military? How
does our spending on the armed forces compare to other countries now and historically?
Here are some facts to consider. America represents about 5% of the population of the
world. Yet, we spend 43% of all monies spent by all the countries of the world combined
,on military spending. Annually, we spend around 720 billion dollars. China is next with
380 billion. India spends 92 billion. Russia spends 82 billion. We spend more than our
seven nearest rivals combined.

You may be tempted to think that this would be a typical percentage in real terms if we
compared America with other empires or superpowers in history. You would be wrong.
Let us look at one of the greatest empires known to man, Great Britain. In 1910, at the
height of the British empire, and just four short years before the outbreak of the first
world war, the Brits had a “60% policy.” The navy was the measure of one’s strengths in
those days, and there was no more powerful navy that the British navy. Britannia certainly
ruled the waves. Now the strongest ships they had in those days were the dreadnoughts.
And so, according to the 60% theory, if Germany had ten dreadnoughts, then Britain must
have sixteen. This would be considered a policy of overwhelming force, to have 60%
more than your nearest rivals.

Today we do not have dreadnoughts of course, the modern measure of strength on the
high seas are aircraft carriers. Today, Russia has 1. France has 1. Britain has 1. China,
until recently had none. They did purchase an old one from the Ukraine, a conventional
one, and so now they have 1. America has 11 aircraft carriers.
There are eight countries with nuclear weapons. America, Russia, Britain, France, China,
India, Pakistan and North Korea. It is commonly assumed that Israel has nuclear weapons
but they officially deny this.

Russia has 2400 strategic nuclear warheads. China has 240. France has 300. Britain has
160. India has 100. Pakistan has 70-90. North Korea has 12. America has 5113. America
has more strategic nuclear warheads than all the other nuclear countries combined.In the
next ten years, America will spend 8 trillion dollars on ” defence.” In the years since 9/11
our military spending has increased by 81%.

So, would you say that we are an insecure nation? In fact, given the numbers, are we not
the most insecure nation that the world has ever experienced? What price, what amount
of spending, how many boats, how many bombs will it take? In an age where we are
continually told that we are on the verge of financial ruin, can anything justify this kind of
spending? When it was recently suggested that military spending be cut by 430 billion
over the next ten years, some pundits suggested that this would ” gut,’ the military. Really?
430 billion out of 8 trillion? What kind of insecurity must there be among the people for
that to be suggested and for it to be believed?

If a country was truly Christian, would that not lead to that country being the most secure
nation the world has ever known? And yet as we can see, we are the most insecure
country that the world has ever known. Where will all this insecurity lead us?
 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify
himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and
shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be
done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard
any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God
of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver,
and with precious stones, and pleasant things.(Dan 11:36-38)

In the King James, the ” God of forces,’ is referred to as the “Fortress God.” Will
America, with all of its insecurity and love of the armed forces, fall foul to some future
leader who will worship the God of forces? Hitler, in 1932, was installed by the
establishment as a hedge against the Communists. They knew he was half crazy, but
they thought they could control him. The establishment was terrified of losing all that
they had to the Communists, so in order to avoid one horror, they installed another.
What compromises will America make when they are faced with a situation that seems
to be out of their control, when they are truly threatened? Will they install a man who
worships the armed forces?

The time is coming , and soon I believe, that this great nation will hand over the reigns
of the most powerful arsenal ever assembled to a ” strong man.” This amassing of
weapons of power is not by accident. Most Americans would have little knowledge of
the details that I printed above. The idolators are set, now all we need is the man who
will truly represent the kingdom of darkness. A man who will not recognize the God of
his fathers. We often worry about Pakistan’s weapons falling into the wrong hands, and
rightly so. We worry about Iran getting a nuclear weapon, and rightly so. Yet the mind
boggles, if , at some time in the future, given the right set of circumstances, the forces
amassed in America falls into the wrong hands. ” Oh Frank, what madness to suggest
that America could ever vote in a strong man and then give away their freedoms
willingly.” Perhaps, perhaps. The anti-christ is coming. He will come out of a revived
Roman empire. Will that be the EU? Will it be America? God alone knows.

The end of the earth is a very remote place. I would imagine that if you are dwelling at the ends of the earth that you are cut off from everything. Perhaps your circumstances have cut you off from everything? Perhaps you are in the loneliest and most frightening place you have every been in? And yet we see, even from that place one can cry out to God. Even if you have taken the wings of the morning and now dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, you can cry out to God and He will hear you.

Perhaps you have made your bed in hell? You lie down, paralysed by fear and the darkness that is all around you. Even in this place you can cry to the Lord, He will come to you even in the deepest darkness because even this darkness is light to Him. He is calling you back to Him, He is saying ” come to me, cry out to me, take my hand and come up to higher ground.” …… Bro Frank

I AM YOUR HIGHER GROUND

The tears of my heart are falling
And each drop is a part of me
My heart is thoroughly broken
Oh my Father in heaven can’t you see

My heart lays wet on my pillow
I am wounded and broken inside
I try to hang on to what I have
Yet the floodgates are opened wide

The cry of my soul is to heaven
Yet the flood of my heart rises still
Who will heal my heart of this rupture
I have swallowed a most bitter pill

In the midst of this flood that is rising
I am overwhelmed by what I can see
I shut my eyes and cast them to heaven
And the Lord says ” keep your eyes upon me.’

Be still my child and trust in me yet
I have captured each tear in my hand
I see your afflictions and troubled heart
Upon I alone you must stand

For when the enemy comes in like a flood
And there’s no hiding place to be found
I am your refuge and strong high tower
I am your higher ground

Come away with me in the midst of this storm
Will you place your heart in my hand
Trust in me oh child of mine
And together, you shall surely stand

 The only cure for hopelessness is to find something bigger than the heavens in which you wander. If hopelessness fills the human soul, and the soul is larger than the mightiest sea, one needs something to displace it. In order to displace something, the object displacing must be larger than the subject being displaced. Do you know that God holds the universe in His hand? It does not contain Him, it is contained by Him. It is maintained by Him. He is the order of the universe. Without His Spirit, then chaos would reign.

In Genesis 1 we see clues to the dreadful state of the human soul untouched by God.

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Now the Greek word for form is to-hoo. The meaning of this word is “From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain: – confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.”

To be untouched by God is to be a thing of desolation, a desert, a place of confusion a wasteland and a wilderness.  The Bible also tells us that to be untouched by God is to be ” void.” The Greek word for void is bo-hoo, very similar to ” form.” It means to be empty. So we see the state of the man who is untouched by God…………..

Gen 1:2  and darkness was upon the face of the deep. 

Outside of a touch from God, men wander in darkness and chaos without purpose. This is a place of desolation, a place of darkness. Yet glory be to God, we can be touched by Him. Gen 1:2-3   And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  (3)  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

When the Spirit of God touches a man then that man is no longer empty, confused and desolate. Order replaces chaos. Light replaces darkness. Life springs out of death. Hope is born. A desert becomes a fertile valley. Will you seek Gods touch today? Will you invite order in? Will you let the light of the world quench the darkness of your soul? He awaits your response with longing. He created you and He longs for you to come and be touched by Him. Cry out to Jesus with a heart that longs to be free from the emptiness of your life and He will come and fill the vast expanse of your empty soul. 

A WANDERING STAR

You filled the aching longing
Of a lonely wandering star
You bridged a yawning chasm
When you saw me from afar

I heard your cry from darkness
And the blackness of the night
You cried ” I’ve come to set you free.”
“I’ve come to give you sight.”

What could fill this aching longing?
What could bridge this vast expanse?
What could render sight to one so blind?
And cause dead feet to dance

Could hopelessness be turned to hope?
Could darkness turn to light?
Could sin be gone and sting no more?
And end this endless night

And soon enough I found it so
In Christ my risen King
The darkness fled from my lonely heart
A heart that now can sing

And hopelessness gave place to hope
His joy now fills my soul
The chasm bridged, the darkness light
His will became my only goal

So thank you Lord, you gave me sight
When you saw me from afar
You forgave my sins and set me free
No longer now a wandering star

We speak to the one who has the heart of a lamb beating within the chest of a lion. There will come a time shortly when we will gather before the throne in incorruption, with a multitude of brothers and sisters. Oh the glory of the worship of the saints. We hear tale of heavenly choirs of angels, and the glory of it. Can you imagine what sound will arise from heavenly choirs of saints from every tongue, every tribe, every nation?

Let us keep it before our minds, this hope, this joy that is set before us. For this same joy the Lord faced the cross, for this same joy let us take up our crosses daily. For after the cross comes resurrection. After death comes life. After mortality comes immortality. After the finite comes the infinite. Do you believe this brothers and sisters? Can you see this in your minds eye? Can you reach out and take hold of life in the midst of death? Can you say to the darkness ” Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.”

Can you say to the gods of this world ” you may kill me, but I will never bow down to you?” Can you say to our King ” Here am I Lord, send me?” Can you say, when your enemies fall upon you ” Forgive them Father for they know not what they do?” All of this we can do, all of this we can say because it is no longer we that live but Christ that liveth in us. We, who were alive to the world, now dead to it, are alive in Christ Jesus. And it is this life that is in us that is the light of men, this life, this light, the Spirit of the Lord, the King who reigns in our hearts.

We were never called to be the light brothers and sisters, by virtue of Christ that lives and reigns in us, we are the light that shines in the darkness. We are that city set on a hill. Let this coming year be a year where this light, this hope, this joy, this peace, this forgiveness, this redemption this glory that is is us be expressed to the world. That the world may see a clear expression of our Lord Jesus in the lives of the saints.   And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (Joh 17:22-24)   Do you have that glory brothers and sisters? Does the glory of the Lord, rise within you? Does the world see an expression of this glory? Oh that we may bring glory to our King. We have it brothers and sisters, it needs only to be expressed. This light should not be hidden. You see, when the Lord Jesus carried His cross He could carry nothing else. One cannot take up their cross and take up an offence at the same time.

To carry your cross you must lay everything else down and only then can you take up the cross for the joy that is set before you. First comes death to this world, then comes the cross, then comes ” even the death of the cross.” After this brothers and sisters comes resurrected life. Let it be this year Lord that we walk in the resurrected power of the Living God. The power that penetrates the hardest hearts. The power that brings light into darkness. The power that makes the demons tremble. This year Lord, this year Lord.

This is such a foreign place to me. It seemed like my world was two dimensional. I finally just reached out to the Lord when I got a moment of silence and clarity. I just felt so joyful to be “re-connected.” Perhaps you have felt dis-connected? Perhaps its been a long time since you have felt connected? My overwhelming feeling the other day was great-fullness and thinking what a privilege it was to speak to my Lord. Prayer is something that can be taken for granted, yet, it is the source of all power. When a lightening bolt strikes the earth, it follows a path. The atmospheric conditions have to be correct. There has to be activity, meaning movement. There is the source of power, then there is the object which will attract the strike, usually that which is standing above the ground.

So, there is the source, the object and the path. Can I suggest that in our walk with the Lord that He is the source of all power. We are the object. Now, the atmospheric conditions have to be correct. There must be in us, a desire, nay, an intense desire to connect with our Lord. If we have such a desire, and the source and the object already exist, now all we need is the path. What creates the path of a lightening strike? What is the genesis of its creation? When will it happen and where will it strike? We know something about the conditions required, but no one has the answers to the other questions. Can I suggest to you that the Word of God is the pathway for a lightening strike for the saints. The power of illumination is released from heaven and travels down the pathway of the Word of God. The word of God combined with a searching heart creates the atmosphere for an illuminating lightening strike by the Holy Spirit.

Do not be fooled by anyone. The wisdom that flows from above flows though this conduit. It takes desire, it takes a searching heart, a diligent searching heart to create the right atmospheric conditions, and just so men cannot formulize this, no one knows when the lightening will strike. Consider the word ” suddenly.” Time and again in Scripture we see this word used to describe the power of God showing up.

(Luk 2:13) And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

(Act 2:2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

(Act 9:3) And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

(Act 16:26) And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

So brothers and sisters. Will you seek Him out? Will you create the proper atmosphere for the Lord to speak to you, to move in you, to create joy in you, to be your source of all wisdom. Start today. Get alone, shut down all the noise and distractions of your life. Dive into His word, raise your hands and begin to praise Him, begin to share with Him. In the doing of all this, you will begin to create intimacy. Now, brothers and sisters, now you can begin to look for the lightening strike, to listen for the thunderbolt, to see God move in some mighty ways. The thing that God is most interested in, is a relationship with you. He grows that, and out of that flows all things. Your relationship with Him must have the pre-eminence in your life. It’s more important than your family, your ministry or your work. For without this vibrant relationship with the Lord, everything you do will be two dimensional at best.

Who knows the path of lightening
As it hurtles through the sky
Who knows the source of power
As I lift my hands up high

There is a God in heaven above
And man who dwells below
There is a source of power
Upon man that God bestows

The Word of God, the cry of man
Creates a path to God above
And heaven’s glory and its power
Comes down this path of heavenly love

If you will create this path
For lightening to touch down
Read His word and speak to Him
And you’ll find He’s all around

For the darkness of the night sky
Is shattered by the Light
That illuminates the souls of men
And of Him there’s none so bright

To speak to You is heavens food
It is manna from above
It is rivers in the desert
It is soul sustaining love

I am so deeply concerned that the evangelical fundamental church today should be a Christian church in every sense of the word. I am so deeply concerned that we should rise and shake of the grave clothes of dead denominational Christianity that lives on a dead tradition and runs like a track with the engine off while the momentum carries it on. I am concerned that we should enter the Christian life deeply, gravely, wonderfully,beautifully, and that we should be a people indwelt with the Holy Spirit, recognize ourselves as a minority group living in a world that hated our Lord and hates us for our Lord’s sake. If we act like our Lord, He adopts us and accepts us and uses us, if we do not reject Him.

The way I keep from being weary in my Christian life is to remember what I am here for. I am here to endure trouble. I am here to endure the friction the world gives. As my Lord was in this world, so am I. He was rejected and so will I be. He was hated, and so will I be. The world did not understand Him and they will not understand me. Somebody might object and say “Your gloomy. This is terrible.” We are living in a time when we have to be chucked up, cheered up. Let me give you the rest of the story. ” Wherefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11)

He had to brace Himself and throw off the weariness of living in a world that hated Him. He had to continue to live in it until He went down as far as He could go, and when He was down as far as He could get, then God reversed Him and up He came as far as He could come, even to the right hand of God the Father, with every knee bowing and every tongue confessing in heaven, earth and hell that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Dear Christian, as He was, so are we in this world. We are called to follow Him through earth’s hardships, in light labors, through the struggles and disappointments and grief and rejection; and when He finds we have had enough of it, He will bring us into a place of glorious power and light and usefulness even in this world. Of course ultimately the final glory is in the world to come. May God help us now to work and not be weary, because there is  full reward coming for all the Lord’s overcoming saints.( Tozer-A disruptive faith)

Oh love without ending
As vast as the sea
Oh mercy divine
Forever it will be

Oh infinite grace
It has no end
Eternal redemption
The heavens you’ll rend

And all these flow down
From a mountain so high
That it reaches the heavens
And bursts through the sky

When I survey
The heavens above
I’m awed by the vastness
I’m awed by your love

One day i’ll stand
On eternities shore
How vast is your love?
I’ll guess no more

Only then I’ll know
How vast is the sea
Only then I’ll know
Love eternally

He had stepped out of eternity and into time, yet he walked the path back to His Father, a path that would lead to the glory of Calvary, a path that would lead to these words “It is finished.” And, as He ascended through the clouds and found Himself on a golden path that led towards the new Jerusalem, a path lined by the saints of heaven, thousands of them, no millions, all casting down their golden crowns before the conquering hero, His Father watched from the throneroom of heaven, found in the new Jerusalem. A single tear falls from the Fathers face as He sees His Son return victorious. As the Father stands, Jesus, riding His majestic white stallion with a two-edged sword at His side, sees His Father. He lifts His head up towards the light and the glory. His horse majestically walks the path avoiding the golden crowns that lie beneath its feet, undisturbed by the cheers of the thousands, no the millions. And they sing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.”

“Father, Father,” our Lord cries out. “Yes, Jesus my son, arise……. arise……. arise…… and take your place at my right hand. Let all of heaven hear me,” cries God, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

I can only imagine the scene , yet I know it falls woefully short for it is limited by my imagination. Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth…………………………………In the beauty of Holiness……….Frank

TO ALL WHO THIRST

As the deer panteth for the waterbrooks
So my soul longeth after thee
Oh my Father in Heaven
Can you hear my desperate plea?

My soul cries out to you
In a dry and thirsty land
Revive me oh Lord, quench my raging thirst
Reach down from heaven and take my feeble hand

There is a famine in my soul
And it hungers after heavens food
There’s a raging thirst in my spirit
If only I could quench this thirst I would

I have tasted this food and drank from the well
Now nothing else will do
I am ruined for all of this life
Now all I want is all of you

Oh listen to my plea
Oh Christ the risen King
I need to hear your Spirit speak
I need to hear the angels sing

For I have wandered in this desert
And it has brought me too my knees
And every footprint in the desert sand
Is marked by anguished plea’s

Forget me not Oh Lord my God
For I remember thee
Those moments that we spent alone
In your Holy Sanctuary

And I was robbed of all my words
In that place before your throne
I knelt and wept, and cried with joy
I knew I’d never be alone

And now your Spirit comes to me
And a heavenly angel sings
A small still voice it says to me
” I will bear you on eagle’s wings”

Arise my my child and thirst no more
For I have heard your plea
Reach out and grasp my outstretched hand
It’s time to come away with me

To anyone with a heart for revival, to see the world fall on their knees and glorify the Lord. Watch this flash mob and just imagine, just imagine how glorious it would be for the whole world to fall upon its knees and worship the King of Kings.
PS Perhaps something like this will be our strategy when they finally ban the gospel. The name of Jesus will never be silenced.

To plummet the depths of a bottomless sea
That’s filled with truth and love
To scale a mountain that has no top
Is to revel in the Father’s love

To fly in a sky that has no end
And to fly with wings of a dove
Is to soar in updrafts of His majesty
To be carried on the winds of love

To live with the Love of God in me
To look through my Father’s eyes
To have ears that hear what the Spirit says
Is to break all fetters and ties

To walk in such glorious freedom
Is to walk in the light from above
Neither chained nor shackled by earth’s dim view
But free to walk in His love

This post is a continuation of a theme that the Lord has put on my heart for the last couple of weeks and the last several posts.

Is there a reason why the Church today is so anemic? What is missing from us that makes us so like the world? What is the answer to the fact that the modern day church is not walking in the power of God? We see so many dynamic personalities, but we see so little of the Holy Spirit. The most dramatic presentation of the power of the Holy Spirit is a changed life. This is truly the greatest miracle of all, yet, how often do we see that nowadays?

If I decide to take a branch from one tree and graft it into another, a few things has to happen. First I must prepare the receiving vine. It has to be “wounded.” I have to make a wound in the side of the vine in order that it may receive the foreign branch. The closer the match the better the bond will be. Then I have to cut the branch away from old tree, prepare the end of it to closely match the open wound on the receiving vine, then finally insert the branch into the prepared wound. Then it must be held in place until it takes.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. We know that the Lord “was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.” (Isa 53) Jesus submitted to the cross in Gethsemane, yet He still had to face the cross. In Gethsemane the decision was made, but on Calvary it was worked out. Peter followed Jesus and knew Him and loved Him and testified of Him and all of this while the cross of Calvary was still an offense to him (Mat 16:16-17, 21,23) Peter had to be totaly broken in order to see the glories of a suffering victorious Christ.

Let me ask you a question, do you know Jesus, or know someone who knows Jesus and testifies of Him and loves Him, yet, Calvary is an offense to them? The notion of dying and suffering , trials and tribulations is a horror to them that they would never willingly submit to. You see, you can be a branch, cut off from the world, yet never be united into the wounds of Jesus. And if you are never united into His wound, then you cannot abide in Him. It is only by being joined to His wound, inserted into His tribulations, that we can draw the power that flows from the vine. How many  “Christians,” do we have today who have , to a certain degree, set themselves apart from the world but have never been joined to Christ, who have not been united with Him in His sufferings?

God Himself had to be wounded in order to receive Jesus, the God-man. He was not asking His son to do something He was not prepared to suffer Himself. How was God the Father wounded you may ask? At the height of Calvary, He watched His precious Son become sin for us and turned His head  away. Yet He heard His Son cry out “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me.” God the Father was wounded so deeply that our minds are simply too small to even come close to understanding. Perhaps only a parent who has watched their child die in agony can even come close to imagining? And we know at that very moment, ” The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” What does the veil represent? It represents the covering of Gods heart, His chest if you like. When the sacrifice was complete, that which had been hidden from men in general, was revealed. God chose to show His presence to the world through His Son Jesus. So, through the wounds of Jesus, and the wounds of the Father, we are united into His presence and can walk in the  power that flows from His presence. Listen to what Andrew Murray says in “Abiding with Christ.”

“It is a deep mystery, this cross of Christ. I am afraid there are many Christians who are content to look upon the cross, with Christ on it dying for their sin, who have little heart for fellowship with the crucified one. They hardly know that He invites them to it. Or they are content to consider the ordinary afflictions of life, of which the worlds children often have as many as they do, as their share of Christ’s Cross. They have no understanding of what it means to be crucified with Christ, not knowing that bearing the cross means likeness to Christ in the principals that propelled Him in the path of obedience. The entire surrender of all self will, the complete denial to the flesh of its every desire and pleasure, the perfect seperation from the world in all its ways of thinking and acting, the losing and hating of one’s life, the giving up of self and its interests for the sake of others- this is the disposition that marks him who has taken up Christ’s cross, who seeks to say, “I am crucified with Christ, the Crucified One.”

Is this your disposition brothers and sisters? Are you crucified with Him or were you merely torn from the tree and never grafted into His wounds? Are you Peter who loves Him, Peter who testifies of Him but the Peter to whom the cross was an offence? If you are, then ultimately you will deny him, maybe not with curses, but certainly with the life that you lead, a worldly life.

We cannot have peace and contentment outside of the vine. This peace that surpasses understanding comes through and in the midst of trials and tribulations. This is what the world is truly searching for and riches will never bring it. When tribulations come this year, and it is coming, it will not matter how much you own or what position you hold in life, it will be your peace that will enable you to survive. Those branches that are joined to the vine will rest in the peace of God, even in the midst of tribulation, those who are not joined to the vine will have “nervous breakdowns,” and find solace, not in the life-giving sap that flows from the throne of God, but in drugs like prozac and the like, or alcohol or some such thing. If you know that you made a decision for Christ, that your branch was cut off from the world but that you never joined yourself to the fellowship of His suffering, I ask you to do it right now. How will I know if I have never done it ? You will lack peace and joy and contentment. You will be filled with all kinds of fears and you will abide in anxiousness. Surrender now , vow to God that your giving up everything for Him, that you will now seek your pleasure in Him. He is faithful and waiting. If you do it, your branch shall prosper, your fruit shall be abundant and hang low and passers by will be refreshed by your kindness, you love, self-control, your joy, your peace and they will take from you, this is the way it is supposed to be. “And you will bear much fruit.”

By the stem which bears me yet.
“I fear not the days to come,
I dwell not upon the past,
As moment by moment I draw a life,
Which for evermore shall last.

“I bask in the sun’s bright beams,
Which with sweetness fills my fruit,
Yet I own not the clusters hanging there,
For they all come from the root.”

A life which is not my own,
But another’s life in me:
This, this is the message the Branch would speak,
A message to thee and me.

Oh, struggle not to “abide,”
Nor labor to “bring forth fruit,”
But let Jesus unite thee to Himself,
As the Vine Branch to the root.

So simple, so deep, so strong
That union with Him shall be:
His life shall forever replace thine own,
And His love shall flow through thee.

For His Spirit’s fruit is love,
And love shall thy life become,
And for evermore on His heart of love
Thy spirit shall have her home.
Freda Hanbury

The simple fact is that spiritual dying is brutal. Crucifixion was the most brutal death that the Romans, with all their ingenuity and brilliance, could come up with. It often took several days to die and every single breath was an agony. Are you dying? Is there a cross on your back? I often think of the agonizing walk that took the Lord from a place of torment and scourging, to the agonizing death of the cross. Can you honestly say that you have even submitted to the process? Have you had your Gethsemane moment? There will be no death for the Christian, no dethroning of the flesh, until we have our own Gethsemane. The will, my will, your will, has to come into the shadow of the cross. It has to look at the cross and all that would entail and it then has to shrink back in horror, struggle, agonize, then submit. All of us know in our hearts what holds us back from this. What part of your life keeps you on the throne of your heart?

The special forces in America are volunteers drawn from the ranks of servicemen. Their training is brutal. They are ” broken down and rebuilt.” Their brutal training ends in what is known as ” hell week.” They have a failure rate that averages about 80%. Those who fail, return to their units. They are still soldiers. The special forces soldier will be involved in combat in the most dangerous of situations, typically behind enemy lines. They will never be publicly recognized. There will be no parade ground and applause. No medal pinning ceremonies.

What kind of Christian life do you want to lead? Are you living in ” shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility?” Are you waiting for the Lord to wave a magic wand over your life so that you can become a spiritual giant? There is no such wand and all waiting of that ilk is futile. In order to serve the Lord with your whole heart you must be dead to this world but your heart must be open to this world. It will not be good enough to forgive your enemies. There will be no virtue in this, you will be called to love your enemies. You may complain ” I am simply being sanctified.” I believe in the sanctification process, but not as an excuse for sin. The truth is , one is fully sanctified the moment one is genuinely saved. The process is reckoning that to be so. The process is reaching out and taking a hold of God’s promises for our lives. He has called us, He has equipped us. We have everything that we need to live a Godly and  Holy life. Now it’s not a simple thing. Is there anything worth having that is simple and easy? Was it simple and easy in the garden of Gethsemane for our Lord? If it was difficult for Jesus, then do you suppose it will be easy for you? When you survey your life, when in the deepest parts of you, you know what has to die, will you bend the knee knowing that when you bend the knee that this will lead to the brutal death of the cross? Victory comes in bending the knee, the decision is made, but then the death will come.

The genuine Christian life is no mere cliché. How many times in Christendom do we hear the phrase ” oh, you have to pick up your cross.” “Lord, bend me.” These are mere words. If the words are uttered with a genuine heart there is a brutal reality that lies behind them. Your life will be totally dismantled, piece by piece. Everything that you hold dear, everything, will pass through the fires, everything brothers and sister. It is a terrifying prospect. Reject any notion that the Christian life is a play-ground, it’s not a play ground, it’s a battle-field. Yet, it is a choice. You can choose the play-ground so to speak. That’s not to say that you will not suffer hard times in the play-ground, for all men suffer hard times if they live long enough. This is not the cross, this is the shadows and the weakness and the sterility of the regular life. If you choose the battle-field, if you ask to be broken, to die, to go deeper, then you will have what you ask for. Jesus knew what lay ahead when he sweated great drops of blood. Paul knew what lay ahead as he started out in his ministry. Knowing that every part of you, every part that you hold dear will be dismantled and passed through the fire, will you still cry out to the Lord ” Here I am Lord, send me?” ” Break me Lord.” I pray that you will. If you do, then you will dethrone your flesh. The shadow that you will stand in will be the shadow of the cross. The weakness that you have will be for Gods glory and you will not be sterile but give birth to hope and joy, living waters will be poured through you and everywhere the waters go, there will be healing.

Some will dare to venture in up to their ankles. Some are brave and venture in up to their knees. Some are very brave and venture into up to their waist’s. Yet in these examples men are still standing on their own two feet. It takes the truly abandoned to plunge into the river and allow the current to carry them where it will. Will you plunge in today? With reckless abandon will you follow Jesus today? Will you go into the deepest part of the river, today? These waters are a torrent of living water.

And it shall be that every living soul which swarms in every place, there where the two torrents go, that soul shall live. And there shall be very many fish, because these waters shall come there. And they shall be healed. And all shall live where the torrent goes. (Eze 47:9)

JESUS IS THE RIVER

When first I came to Jesus
The river was ankle deep
It cooled me in the day time
Yet still I was upon my feet

I went further down the river
And to my knees I went in deep
I could see a little clearer
Yet still I was upon my feet

I traveled down still further
And in the river went waist deep
Now I felt the river pulling
Yet still I was upon my feet

I decided to go deeper
Fully abandoned, no retreat
I was swept into the river
No longer standing on my feet

Now the river takes me
In the way that I must go
No longer do I choose the path
It’s in the river that I flow

Now everywhere the waters go
It brings healing to the land
And now the Lord can use me
For I no longer stand.

IF I DID NOT BELIEVE!

My hope would vanish in the wind
My joy would disappear
My peace would crumble into dust
I would not shed a tear

My love would melt and fear would reign
I’d lose my nightly song
There’d be no purpose for my life
I’d know not right from wrong

My only thoughts would be of me
And what I could achieve
I’d live my life so selfishly
If I did not believe

And when my moment came to die
And stand before the throne
I would not have an advocate
I’d stand there all alone

And for all eternity
For those who don’t receive
You’ll suffer loss eternally
If you do not believe

We were lost
Until you came to show the way
We were alone
Until you walked with us each day

We are fearful
Until we revel in your love
We are foolish
Until your wisdom flows in us

We were ungrateful
Until we gazed on Calvary
We were bound
Until you came to set us free

We were hopeless
Until we found our hope in thee
We were blind
Until you gave us light to see

We were afflicted
Until you heard your children’s cries
We were dead
Until you said to us ” arise! “

We were hungry
Until you fed us from your hand
We were lost
Until you led us to the promised land

We are waiting
Until you come from heav’n above
We are praying
Until you crown us with your love

The Lord laid the thoughts above upon my heart, it mentions being restless, being anxious, being lost, being alone,fearful and foolish, ungrateful and being bound,hopeless and blind,afflicted and dead, hungry and lost, and finally, waiting and praying. Perhpas you can relate to some of these issues, perhaps you can relate to all of these issues? Perhaps for a moment today you can consider the gravity of your deliverence? Perhaps you can consider the fact that the Lord has impacted every single aspect of your existance? Perhaps, as you consider such thoughts, that the glory of the Lord will begin to rise in your spirit? Let us never forget the magnitude of Jesus in our lives, how He, and He alone shapes every aspect of it. Thank you today Lord, for such a deliverence……..brother Frank

Kneel before the cross and gaze upon the Son
And lift your head and humble hands up high
For it was up on Calvary’s hill that victory was won
So therefore hell and death must pass me by

See the chains of hell, broken now by Christ
Hear the choirs of heavenly angels sing
The grave has been defeated and lost its victory
And all of death has lost its deadly sting

Now He sits upon a horse, Faithful and True
His justice and His mercy never ends
He sets the captives free, for He died for you and me
And freedom is the message He now sends

When we consider the struggle of our Lord Jesus in Gethsemane, we see a struggle like none other. Who amongst us have sweated great drops of blood? Right there, on His knees and all alone, Jesus struggles in the night. He cries out to His Father to take the cup from Him. If our Lord struggled, if the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords struggled, then we too will often find oursleves struggling with our own issues. Yet the Lord Jesus made a way for us. He comes to the point of victory before the actual crusifixtion. The Lord says this ” Not as I will, but as thou will.” This is the key to victory in our lives. The saint who perseveres does so because he has bowed the knee and in whatever situation he finds himself , although the flesh would cry out for the cup to pass, he says ” Not my will but thy will.” This submission to what the Lord calls us too is the key to victory.

In that vein I wrote this poem , may it bless you

Before you wear the crown

Before the crown we’re called to wear
There is a cross that we must bear
Before He struggled up the Hill
He had to choose His Father’s will

Before the victory was won
He had to say ” Thy will be done.”
And on the cross He did atone
But not before He prayed alone

If we desire to climb that hill
We must desire to do His will
For victory will not be won
Until we say ” Thy will be done.”

So if you will take up your cross
It’d  serve you well to count the cost
For before He died to set you free
He died alone at Gethsemane

Only before the throne can we truly grasp the nature of the conflict. Let us arise from apathy and dullness of thought and remind ourselves of the task at hand. Let us pray with courage and knowledge that we have been called to pray for such a time as this. Prayer is the secret weapon that the enemy fears most. Why? Because to truly pray one has to come into the presence of the living God, one has to come before the throne of grace. Anytime a saint comes before the throne he is encouraged and strengthened to carry on the fight. It is no surprise that this aspect of our walk is the one that would be greatly opposed.

Let us come before the throne together and petition our heavenly Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. The enemy may whisper in your ear ” oh what’s the point,” yet we must learn to recognize the enemies voice. He is an accuser of the brethren and a discourager of the saints. We must learn to recognize it so that we may ignore it and do the exact opposite of it quickly.

The small still voice says ” come unto me.” He says ” draw near to me.” He constantly encourages us to make movement towards Him .He also lets us know that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He makes Himself known to those who do not lose heart and continue to overcome by the power of Him that overcame.. Now, the enemy is a  wind that never stops blowing. He will certainly try and blow ou off this course. Yet brave men and women put their faces to the wind and move forward in the direction that they have been called. The enemy blows against us individually, but uses the winds of the collective culture to pressure us into compromise. And the compromised life is the crossless life.

To stand against the winds of the culture is to take up ones cross every day. The winds of our culture howl and right now are gaining strength. Almost all run with the winds at their back, the path of least resistance. Very few will stand up against the winds that blow. Jesus Himself stood upon the mount in the midst of a cultural hurricane and gave a sermon that defied nature itself. He declared “You have heard that it was said…….. but I say to you.” He took the reality of that day , a foundation upon which that culture stood upon, and He upturned it. He took everything that they thought they knew and He declared this truth………”But I say to you.” Two worlds collided. The natural world just collided with the Spiritual world. For those who choose life, this collision is the living out of the most revolutionary sermon every preached by Jesus .ts the revolution against the very flesh that encases us, that the spirit might break free from its mortal tent and soar with the sounds of chains, breaking and falling to the earth behind it.

In every generation, in every century, the Lord’s people have stood against the cultural realities of the day. The Lord has always maintained a witness. And these cultural realities have always been endorsed and embraced and oftentimes been led by religious authorities, giving lost people false hope. And in the midst of such reality, God stands and speaks through His remnant, His witness. The martyrs down through the ages have stood against cultural hurricanes. So many brave saints.

John Wycliffe was such a saint. He and the Lollards defied the howling winds of their day and paid dearly for it. Such was the hatred for Wycliffe that the religious establishment of that day dug up his bones so that they could burn them. And all because he translated the Bible into English and exposed the false teachings of the Catholic church. John Huss was another man to stand up and defy the howling winds of culture and was burned at the stake. William Wilberforce stood in the midst of the storm for decades after coming to Christ and was rewarded by hearing on his death bed that slavery had been abolished in the British Empire.Christians who condemned slavery in America 200 years ago stood against such winds.

I had an uncle who was a conscientious objector in 1947, he refused to pick up a gun, even although there was no war. He spent 6 months in jail and it would have been six months of hell. He later spent 30 years as a missionary to Pakistan. It takes enormous courage to stand against the cultural winds. Bonhoeffer and the confessing church in Nazi Germany in the 30s stood against winds that would and did kill many of them. Muslims who come to Christ in a Muslim country stand against howling winds.

Will you stand up against such winds? When the time comes, will you have the courage to do as others have done before you? Only by a living relationship with the eternal God can men and woman stand up in so fierce a storm and head directly into the teeth of it. This is the purpose and the nature of prayer. It takes us to the place of actual reality, the eternal throne. This place is our home, not this world. This is the place where we will spend eternity, not this world. This is the place of miracles, not this world. This is the place where all things are possible, not this world. This is the place where we are fulfilled, not this world. This world is a mere shadow to the coming reality of eternity, and we are privileged people that we have access to a place that gives us a glimpse of our eternal dwelling. Let us not forsake nor take for granted this privilege. Only those who have stood against the individual winds that come against them will be able to stand when the cultural hurricane comes, and believe me brothers and sister it is coming to the West very soon.