father – Page 8 – Cross Culture Church

Meditation: March 11

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Blessed is he who takes no offense of Me.” Luke 7:23

The offense that occurs among men is the contradistinction between His deity and His humanity. Some would view Him as not being human enough to understand man’s dilemma and the challenges that all men face, while others would reduce Him to being just a man, the son of a carpenter. Then there are those who view Him as being an impostor who proclaims to be God. The paradox of His life as being fully God and fully man is the reason for many taking an offense to Him. But blessed is he who has received from the Holy Spirit the revelation as Peter received, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In this statement, both His deity and humanity are genuinely and fully expressed. Flesh and blood cannot make this known. Only the Father in heaven can reveal this to us thus positioning us to receive the revelation of the Father through our surrender and obedience to Him.

10 Mar 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: March 10

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?” Psalm 139:7

When we are born of the Spirit, the Spirit remains with us wherever we go. He is there in those moments when we feel alone and abandoned. He is there when our hearts drift in directions that would be far removed from the warmth that comes as result of meditation and deep contemplation on His goodness towards us. Our reluctance to draw closer to Him does not affect His pursuit of us. His Spirit is wooing us in our darkest hour to deeper levels of intimacy with the Son of God. Only Jesus can reveal to us the love of the Father that will provide stability and purpose for our lives. He was that voice of conscience convicting us when we were wrong. He was that voice of encouragement pressing us forward when we had the opportunity to do right. The Spirit is both our Comforter and our Guide. He alone can reveal to us the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

08 Mar 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: March 8

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Every one who confesses Me before men, I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32

Jesus is saying, “if you show the world that you know Me, I will show you that you belong to the Father.” Only Jesus can make it known to us that we truly belong to the Father; He is our pathway into the knowledge of His love. The reason is, He knows intimately all things concerning the Father, but His will is to make known to us what He knows. None can reach the grand and mountainous heights of knowledge on their own. All need Him to raise us to a greater level of understanding that never can be found on our own. We are then “found in Him” as the Apostle Paul states it, “No longer on a quest of trying to find ourselves but rather found in a new and glorious place in Christ with His visibility and no longer seeing things as we once saw them.” He gives a peek into glory and we see the Father in Him. To see Him is to love Him and to love Him is to have knowledge of His love. May we grow in that knowledge and increase in His love.

28 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 28

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Mark 11:24

The condition of the heart qualifies one for answered prayers according to the will of God. He brings us into compliance with His will in order for us to see with Him what He sees, thus desire the same things that He desires. Only then is it possible for us to enter into the very prayer life of Jesus. When the Holy Spirit controls our passions and desires, the Father who always hears the voice of His Son will also hear Him speak through us. This should be our passion to reach that place of faith where there is nothing in us other than the will to fully please the Father. Then we can ask what we will and it will be granted to us.

20 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 20

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Luke 24:5

The pronouncement of the two angels at the empty tomb is the challenge to this generation. We need answers. This is a desperate time for so many in searching for real answers. People are getting tired of pacifying words that merely delay the imminent failures that they have grown so accustomed to. Some are wishfully thinking that some semblance of life may yet remain among the tombs of yesterday’s shattered dreams. They have dug their stakes and set up their tents in graveyards rather than in the place where new life is blossoming. Jesus was once there but only for a little while. He was carried there because no life was within His body. Now it is as empty as those who attempt to live their lives without Him. But now as being resurrected, He has moved beyond where men were able to place Him. He is where He has decided to be. Now is the time to meet Him where He chooses to reside. He is among the living. Those who have spirit-life within them and a will to do His Father’s will, their life takes on its truest meaning. Only there one can find true joy and peace within their souls.

19 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 19

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.” Hebrew 7:16

The High Priest, Melchizedek was a High Priest by the sheer force of resurrection life rather than mere genealogy. This was a different class of priesthood signifying an important future event. God’s promise to us is an endless life. Jesus, who is the Begotten of the Father, was with the Father from the beginning. Those of us who are in Christ have entered into eternal life. He is our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Nothing of the law could produce it. All of its fleshly commandments could only point out to us our deficiencies. So many are yet trying to compensate for what is lacking, thus giving them a false hope of resolving issues that are too deep for them to even fathom. In Jesus Christ, we have eternal life. To know Him is to take full possession of His promises. We die to our former state and the futile efforts of reforms to preserve our souls. We then rest in Him as being our sufficiency. It is His grace alone that saves us and delivers us from bondage to liberty and life eternal.

18 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 18

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Sit here while I pray.” Mark 14:32

When Jesus was facing the most agonizing moment in His life, He needed to be alone with the Father. He was away from the multitudes with pressing needs thus seeking Him out for assistance. Now He was with that small select group of disciples with whom He felt the liberty to be transparent. Yet His instruction to them was to sit as guards rather than participate with Him in that moment when He needed to talk to His Father. There are times when we need to pour out our hearts and express those deep feelings with God that only He is to hear. It is because only He is able to understand what we are not always able to fully articulate in words. On other occasions He would teach them to pray and corporately approach God as “our Father.” Now He wanted to speak to His as “My Father” because no other could understand the deep longings of His heart other than the One who knew Him best and love Him the most. We too need some alone time with God. Out of those times we are able to cultivate an intimate and personal relationship with Him.

16 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 16

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. (14) Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.” John 14:13-14 (MSG)

Out of the personhood of Jesus, He does what only He alone is able to do. It is the character of Christ to love unconditionally. Every act was an act motivated by love and an expression of love. His objective is to free those who have sought the authentic but have settled for a substitute. Too many seekers have succumbed to merely settling for a level far beneath the level established by Christ. Therefore the requests are restricted to their limited understanding. The only prayer that the Father is obligated to answer is the prayer of His Son, as His passion burns deep within our hearts. He honors His Son through hearing His prayers through yielded vessels whose lives are fully engaged in the works of Jesus. They are His sons brought to glory. Through them, the works of God continue.

14 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 14

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44

The Father draws us by way of His Spirit that we may be close to Him. There is a place in God awaiting each soul that is discontent and longing to be where He is. It is our desire that moves the heart of God to beckon us to come closer. He is not impressed with the things that men would be impressed with. Nor can one force his way into His presence without the necessary conditions of the soul being met. He seeks the humble and contrite who would feel undeserving of such an invitation. In Jesus’ earthly ministry, He would spend time with publicans, prostitutes, and tax-collectors. It was the Pharisees that thought they deserve special attention because of their pedigree. He will even beckon little children to come unto Him and rebuke any that would forbid their approaching Him. It is the Spirit of the Father working through the Son that draws us. We are drawn to be with Him forever. Even when we die, He does not leave us. The time will come when He will raise those who are with Him with the same power contained within His own resurrection.

01 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

February 2016 Article: “True Love”

Posted by wwalker Categories: Articles

Becoming spiritually awakened triggers areas of sensitivity that otherwise would not be recognized. Then one can experience the prompting of the Holy Spirit that draws him closer to the Lover of his soul. Love preexisted all of creation—The Eternal Father loved His Eternal Son with Eternal love. It was love eternal, love unconditional, and love everlasting. God is love, but to explain this is virtually impossible because there are no earthly references to unconditional love. Yet, He invites each one of us to enter into His relationship. However, experiencing it places the individual in an exclusive category where he can no longer settle for the mundane feelings of expressions that masquerade as authentic. Yes, the references to which it can be compared seem normal, but its aim is set too low and often leads to frustrations and disappointments. People are related to each other and often relate others on this basis. But once this level is experienced, regardless of how one may have felt toward others, himself, or things, he soon discovers that true love and devotion have a far greater range than the temporary experiences that the uninformed have embraced as mere romanticism.

Yet it encompasses all things including romance within the context of God’s original design. Sin is the allurement of Satan to draw individuals to a state of independence, thus living his life after his own choosing. People are related to each other and often relate others on this basis. But once this level is experienced, regardless of how one may have felt toward others, himself, or things, he soon discovers that true love and devotion have a far greater range than the temporary experiences that the uninformed have embraced that as mere romanticism. Yet it encompasses all things including romance within the context of God’s original design. The objective of the enemy is for each person to share in his rebellion at the expense of forfeiting the benefits provided by God. He blinds the mind and darkens the heart so that right seems wrong and wrong appears to be right.

A blind person feels his or her way through life. Yet feelings are so fragile. One’s mood has the tendency to swing in all directions. It is unstable and requires much work in order to compensate for what true love alone is able to establish. Feelings alone without purpose are void of a cause to remain in love. This is why so many fall in love. If you fall in love, what did you stumble over that caused you to be helpless? We should not be victims of circumstances who love without a purpose or a goal, but rather, trust God to fulfill His intentions through our mutual submission to Him. A fall requires correction while a decision engages the whole being, spirit, soul, and body. If you fell in love, you ought to be able to rise above the fall and eventually stand erect. True love requires both a decision and a commitment, and before we come to God, we must commit our love and devotion.

The questions that every individual must ask is who am I, why am I here, and where am I headed? The journey of life is too important for you to travel with companions that divert the path ordained as your destiny. The Bible says that “Bad companions ruin good character.” (1 Cor 15:33) Today’s English Version Our companions must be wisely selected. Many people have altered their destinies as result of being emotionally or sexually joined to people who cause them to detour from the road leading to fulfillment in life. The soul ties created by the forbidden desensitizes the person from hearing or even having an interest to hear the wisdom and instructions given to them by God. Lust is the instrument of the devil to blind the minds and heart. Moreover, lust attracts the individual like a magnet towards objects that are bent for his destruction. Not only is one desensitized from hearing the voice of God, but it also prohibits the person from possessing the ability to truly love. Then his life is filled with substitutes rather than what is real. Love for God will arrest lust for the forbidden and will both generate and reinforce the passion for what God has provided. Accept God’s love in order for Him to love through you. His love provides opportunities to give expression to a joyful and fulfilling life with rich rewards.