Meditation: July 2, 2012

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.” Philippians 3:7

What a marvelous work must have taken place in the life of Apostle Paul to now be at a place of devaluing what once was measure of his boasting. Now things had changed for him. Things that were measured as advantages had now become deficits. If they remained his central focus or if he took pride in any other thing, it would diminish the opportunity of knowing Christ as being far more superior to any other thing. It is a matter of prioritizing our lives where Christ becomes all and other things are subordinate to our seeking to know more of Him. This can only happen among those who once knew that they were boastful. Pride has many disguises. Some would say that they are proud of the fact that they are not proud. This oxymoron hides behind a thin veneer of humility. When we become aware of our pride, we then give the Holy Spirit opportunity to free us from it. The test of true humility is when we determine not to know anything but Christ and Him crucified. There we harness the energy used to project a positive image and radiate Christ as being our life. When we know Him by revelation, who His glory is revealed in and through us.

Meditation: June 28, 2012

“The ordinary and disreputable people who heard John, by being baptized by him into the kingdom, are the clearest evidence.” Luke 7:29 (MSG)

 
When ordinary and common people are awakened to the message, the clearest evidence is presented. It is not the theologians or religious experts who will readily embrace the truth. They have to work their way through too many intellectual arguments before their hearts are finally penetrated. Not that we should close our minds and blindly feel our way into faith. But there is a place deep within the soul that can identify with the Truth and serve as the cause for rejoicing. The void is filled there. What has been missing is finally placed in the deep hole that nothing else was able to fill. Ordinary people are more aware of their need than those who are self-confident, pious, and proud. They need everything while the proud need nothing. They seek out a better and more fulfilling life while most aristocrats only need an addendum to what they have already received. There will be a major movement among the ordinary people and those who were hopeless. They will see the Light sought after but never realized. Their response will be genuine because they have nowhere else to turn. Yes, Christ is for losers. Unless we lose our lives, we will never find eternal life. Otherwise we will be embracing a false security plunging rather than rising thinking we have arrived.

Meditation: June 17, 2012

“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

 
The keys unlock the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables because it had not been given to them to know the mysteries of His kingdom, but it was given to His disciples. They had submitted to Him and had committed to fully follow Him. Along their journey they were graced by the Holy Spirit to receive the revelation from the Father that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. This truth unlocked the mystery to which they were to enter in. Experiencing Christ is having access bringing down to earth the blessings contained in heaven. As we grow in our knowledge of Christ, not merely our knowledge of created things, we will discover that all is subject to what we are learning. He has preeminence over all things. They maintain their consistency by and through Him alone. A glimpse of Christ is insufficient for the journey ahead of us. We must maintain our focus exclusively on Him if we are to participate in kingdom work.

Meditation: June 13, 2012

“but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ. —“ Ephesians 4:15

 
The alternative to flowing with the wind and being influenced by the culture is hearing that we might do what the Word says. It was Paul’s passion to speak only what the Lord had to say. Even though the message is a challenge to current culture, it is the expression of a higher and deeper dimension of love. It is spoken in love when the desire of the heart of the messenger is to see those he has been called to address grow into developing the character of Christ. Often the growth of the hearers may excel beyond the level of the speaker, but he should not be jealous of his spiritual children. Instead, he should encourage them to take what they have received beyond his level of understanding for the Word alive within the hearer increases as seed to produce a great harvest. Ministers should not waste time addressing every other subject rather than God’s Truth. There is no growth is these side issues. Christ is the answer to every problem but He can only be known through faithful ministers. We are obligated to counter the movements that prevail against the soul of the wayward. Then they have a course set before them leading them to life.

Meditation: June 12, 2012

 “for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” 1 John 4:20

There is that moment in the life of every Christian where love is indiscriminately distributed. This is the mark of true conversion that one has passed from death unto life. It does not mean that the person will remain there, but if he has never been there, he has never received conversion. All too often very little is required of the seeker that limits his expectations of God. If God does not require the whole heart of the individual, how can that individual expect to receive the fullness of Christ? The test is openness to others with a heart overflowing with love. We cannot contain the authentic love of God for its objective is to be given away. Our mission is to fully follow after Him allowing His love to be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. If we love Him we will love our brother, love, and keep His commandments. 

Meditation: June 11, 2012

“Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.” Psalm 90:16-17

To see with our eyes what God is doing is a blessing beyond measure. God allows His servants to see where He is in the midst of confusion and apparent hopelessness. He is there working His plan even when all appears to be still or falling apart all around us. Not alone does His servants see His works, they are used by the Lord to participate in what He is doing. His works are established through His servants as evidence that He is in fact the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. He seeks those who would fully avail themselves to Him. Why should our lives be filled with clutter that works against His plan? Our greatest joy can be found in pleasing Him through reflecting His will on earth as it is in heaven. Oh that Christ might be seen today through those who earnestly and exclusively seek Him as the only stability in these uncertain times.

Meditation: June 6, 2012

“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Ephesians 4:7

The Lord has dispensed to each member of the Body of Christ a measure of grace. We have been enabled to function as a whole but yet dependent on every part doing its share. It is from the wholeness of the Body of Christ the witness of Jesus is made known to the world. A fragment may have an effect to a degree, but the full effect can only be experienced when we come together as a whole. Coming together and sharing together as one is the prayer of Jesus Christ. The enemy’s attempts to divide the Body may have delayed the witness but can never destroy the witness. There will be a people equipped for service with understanding of the times, and a clearer knowledge of purpose in the last days. They will not hoard their gifts as exclusive to their party, but see the whole as being greater than the sum of all its parts. It is through the synergized efforts of the Church that the world will know that Christ has come down from the Father. Then the love of God can be shed abroad in our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit impacting the world in areas where the need is the greatest.

Meditation: June 3, 2012

“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3

In an age of diversity, tolerance, and political correctness, to speak exclusively that One would stand out among the crowd condemning all others beside as false, lifeless, and insignificant. So it is with God who has no respect for other gods. None other is to be worshiped and the exclusive course to the Father is through His Son, Jesus Christ.  What is most difficult to many is to understand the effect of original sin. None had access because of man’s nature as sinners. When sin is ignored then the need for a Savior is unnecessary. But thanks be to God, a provision was made through the death of His own Son that we might be redeemed! Idolatry is the pursuit of a god that is either after Him or in place of Him. He must stand alone ii He is to be worshiped. Renounce any idols in your life that may be competing for your exclusive obedience to Him.

Meditation: June 2, 2012

“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” Revelation3:8

The faithfulness of the saints provides endless opportunities in the future. Our future is determined by the decisions we currently make. An open door is set before those who know the name of the Lord. When His character is known and given expression He can then work through that individual without the objections of the flesh. The Holy Spirit’s assignment is to make Christ known to us. He reveals Him in the midst of even the most trying of circumstances. When He is known in truth, He will not be denied. We must maintain a steadfast faith in Him even though doors may now be closed before us. He can open doors that no man open and He can shut doors that no man can close. Even the little strength that is maintained is enough when His strength is at work within us. He will do His work among the weakest for His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.

December 2011 Article: “Re-presenting Jesus”

When a person or thing has been forgotten, or if the memory is reduced to a title, a symbol, or any fixture that is now void of life, there is the need for a fresh presentation in order for the truth to be known. Interpretations are often limited to perceptions that are usually influenced by personal desire. It would be much easier to have a Savior that fits perfectly into our thoughts of Him. He would then be non-threatening and pliable to whatever whim may come to mind. Then, when we grow weary of that perception, we can retire it and create another as we continue to change our minds about life and ourselves. Jesus Christ, however, is not that flexible. Malachi presents Him as unchanging and Revelations reflects His history, presence, and destiny as being the same. Since He is the same, why do many either embrace or reject a perception, but do not seek to know Him as He is? It is primarily because of the responsibility that accompanies the true knowledge of Him. What will we do if we were enabled to see Him as He is? Our agency as autonomous individuals would be compromised. There would be an authority would have determined what is right and wrong, what is good and what is evil. Society has primarily redirected their pursuits for a substitute rather than having to reckon with the One who presents Himself as the established truth.
His Word challenges our thinking and reaches deep into our souls. There is a part of every person that seeks to know more than what he currently knows. Yet it is pride that causes one to think that his pursuits can offer him complete satisfaction. He came to earth for us and we were made to acknowledge and glorify Him. Looking in any other direction merely hardens the heart against what the soul desperately craves. He abandons a life of temporal pleasures that merely anesthetizes the conscience so that things that were prohibited now become more sensible than the grace to participate in what He has granted freely. Jesus Christ is the greatest gift ever given to humanity, but He is not who we think He is. Our minds cannot reach those peaks of marvelous revelation that only His Spirit is able to manifest. When we strain to think of what He is like, we merely get a glimpse from a distance. He stands there welcoming us to approach Him, but not with the things we wish to keep. His will is to fill us with more than we are holding on to by giving us what we never had. Whether it is religiously maintained, it is a devotion and commitment, even if it is not the truest depiction. He comes to dispel all preconceived notions not by becoming a part of our lives but rather by becoming life to us.
Too many have built idols and worshiped without knowledge they were doing so. Little wonder that so much confusion remains all around us, especially among those who profess a faith. He is still here; the Christ of God who revealed Himself in history waits for the opportunity to reveal Himself to this generation.  The challenge of the old misconceptions must take place if the original is to be made known. Wise men sought Him when He came as a child to the earth. Now that He has completed His task upon the earth, who will seek to know the resurrected Christ whose will is to dwell richly within the hearts of those who would make room for Him?