earth – Page 5 – Cross Culture Church

Meditation: November 13

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthews 7:21

Is ours a works salvation that qualifies us for heaven or a faith that translates into efforts that are pleasing to God? Many have believed that no evidence is necessary among the professors of religion. The right language without evidence may be impressive but does not possess the power to preserve one’s life for all eternity. In this life we are transformed into willing servants of the Lord. When His life enters into our souls, we wish to know what pleases Him that we may do what we have been enabled by His Spirit to know. The prideful would merely wish to parade around with knowledge left unapplied. They are held responsible even though they never tapped into the power that could have been used for the continuance of the works of Jesus Christ on the earth. Their professing Him as Lord is a signal to the powers that be of that they are equipped and skilled for spiritual battle. When we enter into His kingdom, the power that resides there reaches the earth through us to confirm our subjection to His Lordship.

21 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 21

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

The living Spirit of God frees us to give a fuller expression of His will. We are no longer bound to obey His Law as heavy restrictions levied against us, but rather freed inwardly to joyful give expression to what we have become. We are made alive to His righteousness while the Spirit reveals to our spirit a standard no longer alien to us. He gives us both the will and the ability to do for His good pleasure. What a life; to please God and at the same time be pleased ourselves! The old nature of sin of which we had grown accustomed, has now be exposed as a slave master. We have now been liberated from his controls and freely ruled over by a Beneficent and loving Lord. He rules by placing His will within us so that there is no struggle between us. We know that He loves us and we know that His will is perfect. As we progress in our knowledge of Him, we surrender even the most stubborn portions of our lives to His government. We want His Kingdom be fully established in our hearts that His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

09 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 9

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world…” but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:36

Jesus is the King over all the earth, but His authority does not come from among the earth. The political parties and their divides are not the determinants of His allegiance. Nor is He limited and controlled by the popularity polls of a shifting societal opinion. His rule is exclusive to what heaven has ordered and demands. God knows the outcome of every decision that appear to be right but often lack the stability and character to even last beyond even one election year. He allows us to take wild guesses in our attempts to move things forward and afterwards await our request to eventually ask Him what He has always known. His kingdom is not of this world but our references are too often worldly. When we come to understand that the true answers and resolve to our most perplexing questions and problems lie beyond this world, we will begin with Him and end with Him. His kingdom comes to invade our own kingdoms. He superimposes over what we had once established when we yield to Him. Otherwise, all that opposes must be dismantled and be replaced with what He originally had in mind.

07 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 7

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:3

The heavenly place must be occupied by the preparer before it can be inhabited by the prepared. The place was the reward of obedience to the will of the Father. All requirements of His earthly life were fulfilled. He was spiritually there even though He was still here. His spirit at that point knew no limits. His death was the ultimate qualifier for His bodily entrance into the place once filled by Him spiritually. The heavenly place was to become the permanent positioning of all who would allow the life of Jesus Christ to fully absorb their own. His finished work was to be presented to the Father as evidence through the passageway of death. His spirit had already ascended, yet all limits of time and space had been removed. Those who have received His life are seated in heavenly places in Christ. We are there in Him. Just as He arose from the grave and now the Man Jesus Christ is there in bodily form, so shall we be in the future. Now His life is to be given expression on the earth through us. We are there in Him and He is here in us. All of our efforts are to become the expression and evidence of the One who is here among us and in us. He must be altogether here in us as we are altogether there in Him.

27 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 27

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14

The Apostle Paul uses the language of an athlete competing for the ultimate prize. The intermediate victories are not be become the level in which he was to settle, but his eyes were upon something much greater. They may be used as a means to lead him there, but ultimate prize was the fulfillment of the upward call. This has more to do with becoming someone than getting something. He qualified to enter in to the competition of becoming all that God had called him to become. And out of his becoming, he was enabled by the Holy Spirit to do all that God had called him to do. We too have been called by Almighty God to a standard of spiritual excellence. It is a standard of living out and giving a full and clear expression of the life of Jesus Christ upon the earth. The world is in desperate need of knowing Christ and He can only be known through His Church. He was aware of his imperfections and areas where improvements were needed. But also open for God to reveal to him any blind spots that he at that point was not able to see. His was a matter of progressing in Christ towards the ultimate goal that was before him. To be found in Him, not having his own righteousness or self-justification of deeds, but totally yielded to Christ. We must set this as our goal as well. He has called us to reach up in order that we may reach out and touch the world with His love and power. This can only happen when it is all of Him and none of us.

21 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 21

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8

Not the faith released to enable us to initially respond to Him. That is our starting point. There is also a faith that sustains us along the way. When it is difficult and sometimes impossible to see what lies ahead, active faith would find the faithful waiting and anticipating whatever God is about to do. They will accept His will even when they do not fully understand it. It is a state of the soul and mind of saying yes to God even before the question is asked. Many have leaned to their own understanding and are moving in a direction that pleases themselves. But the Son of Man is coming back. He does not give warning, but immediately appears on the scene. Then the Truth will be made known. All pretense is exposed as error, and hypocrisy is uncovered as evil. When He comes, He will reward the faithful. Those who continued to withstand the pressures of compromise brought to bear against them will be rewarded. He will find them wherever they may have been driven for true faith is like a magnet to Him. It has attracted us to Him and He will prove the fact that He is attracted to us. Even though faith will be a rare commodity, nevertheless it will survive among the faithful. Some will remain as witnesses of His grace and carriers of His testimony. He will find faith hidden in their hearts.

17 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 17

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” Isaiah 32:18

God provides security for His own people. Though competitive and threatening storms of life rise on occasion, but God’s peace quiets us in the midst of the storm. We dwell is the secret and secure place where the activities of discord and doubt dwell on the outside rather than within. He will keep us here in this place of perfect peace if we maintain our focus on Him and not on the storms. God knows how to navigate the ship in the most troubled of waters. When facing the greatest of difficulties, we do not desire a novice to be at the helm. Experience counts best when it is needed the most. Jesus has triumphantly passed through every barrier on earth including death. He, as our High Priest, has now even passed through the heavens. There is no experience on earth, or in heaven that the Man, Jesus Christ is not completely familiar. We can hold fast to the confidence and not waver because of some misfortune that may be strange to us. What He has already done He is able to do with us and in us as long as we remain where He has placed us. This is our resting place because of the assurance that we have in knowing that God is with us. He is working all things together that each part may contribute to a completed life for our good and for His glory.

12 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 12

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.” 2 Timothy 4:3

Teachers are instructors that mold the character of those who subject themselves as students to learn. The world is being fashioned by teachers. There are men and women who take what they have come to know and feed others who are eager to learn. There is not a shortage of teachers. But the problem Paul was addressing was that there would be a number of people whose hearts remain unchanged. They will seek to be instructed in matters of choice rather than in truth. Their level of toleration of God’s Word would be on the decline. Yet their appetites for instructions in how to fend off any doctrine that would equip them in the ways of God would increase. They will gather to themselves instructors who would help them build up defenses against what God would have them to know. An intellectual argument and one’s ability to defend his position often can become the callous over the soul. It is when the heart is tender that God’s Word can penetrate it thus drawing the wayward unto Himself. Itching ears suggests a hunger for what one wishes to hear. The challenge is lacking when one is anxious to be prematurely affirmed. It feels good to the soul but is destructive to the spirit. We need teachers who will teach us in the ways of God. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth will only work within those who have reached the point of wanting nothing other than the will of the Lord done on earth as it is in heaven.

01 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

September 2016 Article: “Heavenly Confirmations”

Posted by wwalker Categories: Articles

The power of agreement is of vital importance in an environment where so many things are separated and dislocated. It is through agreement that progress is made in life and any other endeavor in which people may be engaged. While this is a biblical principle, it is not always applied towards those things that glorify God. When an agreement is reached, the people are of one mind and purpose, and the momentum set in motion has the potential of enlisting unengaged bystanders and absorbing them into the effort of accomplishing that goal. The erection of the Tower of Babel would have been completed unless God Himself had not intervened. We have seen groups of people come together and organize movements either in defense or defiance of a particular cause. It is especially effective when those in favor take ownership of that cause. Yet the question of rightness and wrongness is yet to be determined. However, a conclusion can easily be reached from the surface. But there are variables that could completely change the equation, and if known, could influence the decision of those who had committed themselves to that end. It was stated, “believe nothing that you hear and half of what you see.” Even our eyes and ears can be deceived, and it is pride that will cause one to hold on to an opinion when the current information contradicts all that he once believed. If my eyes and ears cannot be completely trusted, then what can I trust and who can I trust? There has to be an absolute from which all other things originate. It must be above all things, yet inclusive of any facts that are known or may be discovered in the future.

It is our agreement with God who has full knowledge of all things that will bring peace on earth and peace within our souls. The frustration of the soul that often leads to violence and rebellion is merely an indication of the disharmony that exists between man’s intent and God’s will. It is not His intention that any would find perfect peace and contentment by any other way. The Holy Spirit rested upon Jesus like a dove after His baptism, thereby indicating the stillness of His soul. He only rests as a dove when there is no turbulence and disquieting within. The announcement from heaven was, “this is My Beloved Son in whom I Am well pleased!” His submission to baptism was more than a mere ceremony. It was His inauguration into the work that led to our salvation. He, through baptism, demonstrated His submission to the will of the Father, and expressed the course in which His life was to take in order to provide the way for all to be rightly related to Him.

Today, as with Jesus, the Lord both affirms us as being His own and confirms that His Presence is currently with us. The voice was not for Jesus, but about Him to others. He knew that He was the Son of God and that His ways pleased the Father, but did others know? Today, God confirms His Word with signs following. We are embarking upon a time when the signs, wonders, and miracles of God will manifest among true believers like never before! Yes, there will always be the counterfeit attempting to disprove the authentic. How can one distinguish the difference between the true and the false? All that is true will lead to the development of character. The confirmation will not just be the demonstrated power of Christ, but His power leading to the character of Christ lived. It will be in Word and in power in the Holy Spirit with much assurance, so you may know what kind of men were among you for your sake. (1 Thessalonians 1:5) Those who were waiting on the Lord to manifest Himself must come to realize that God had been waiting on them to come into full agreement with Him. When we meet His criteria, He will open Heaven and rain down His Spirit upon all manner of flesh!

30 Aug 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: August 30

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isaiah 52:10

The Lord has crowned His kings and princes throughout the earth. His strength has gone out to both defy the power of the enemy and to undo the enemy’s work. There are those who bear the mark of royalty and are destined for the throne to rule and rein with Him. The Kingdom of God dwells among men! The question the world is asking is where is the mark or seal borne by those that belong to Christ? There appears to be no distinction between them and others; in fact, those who rebel appear to have the advantage over the faithful. The mark that they bear is within their hearts. Their passion for their King and the desire to see Him rule in righteousness separates them from others. They have an undying hope directed towards the future. Their faith is not wrapped up into small packages limiting them to temporary pleasures. They want the whole thing and will not settle for anything less. As Dr. James Stewart puts it speaking of the coming first of the Lord Jesus Christ, not simply of the emergence in Galilee of One whose power matched His pity and whose pity matched His power.” He came on the scene to destroy all the works of the devil and to do and establish the works of God His Father. Those who fully have His mark carry His passion. The time will come when the Lord Himself will manifest His strength among the nations and all eyes shall see it. Things are growing more rebellious today and the hope of many has been shattered by the crises facing the entire world. But the stage is being set for the Light of the world to shine with the backdrop of the darkest of darkness. Salvation will be distinct and sure. It will not be shrouded by the pipe dreams of the ambitious who only wish for themselves the best. True salvation will come manifested in waves of power and glory. He will provide the solutions to resolves our deepest problems.

Load more posts