work – Page 3 – Cross Culture Church

Meditation: January 11

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.” Galatians 5:1

The most secure place is the position of true freedom. Permission is granted to us by our Sovereign Authority to fully participate in a work that extends beyond the passions that once ruled over us. We once thought of freedom as being able to follow the dictates of our hearts. Our old selves willfully responded, as it had been conditioned, to the stimuli of influences surrounding us. Not having the ability to see beyond this, we did not understand that an offering was extended that we might be liberated from the confinement of a world that offered nothing beyond itself. The liberty in which we now stand is an inner freedom that makes us aware of things that exist beyond the confinements of a shrinking worldly existence. As our external life gives signs to decay and decline, the inner man is being renewed for its expression of eternal life. We are free to live forever the life that we now have come to experience in time.

09 Jan 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: January 9

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Acts 2:2

The buildup was gradual. There was the work of getting those who were once divided and separated by their own preferences and passions to a certain place. There is a certain place for those who wish to receive the infusion of power for service unto God. He empowers the ones that He is able to position. It is the positioning power of God that will introduce the believer to a higher degree of power. If God is not able to move you from your current state of being or attitude, He will not be able to show you any more than you think that you already know. But when He moves us from our place to His place, He will then release His power in wondrous ways. This was His place! They were there allowing Him to connect them to each other. They could then appreciate the contributions to the whole that each had to offer. Then the power came upon them suddenly! It will not take God long to do what He has purposed to accomplish in and through you. He is waiting on the conditions to be as He has designed, that each would be in one place on one accord. Then there will be a sound from heaven as a rushing and mighty wind blowing in the direction of the unity of an expecting people.

14 Nov 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: November 14

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.” Ecclesiastes 9:12

Action taken without any knowledge of our time is the entrapment of the enemy. We would lose sight of all the benefits provided as a means of remaining on the path of freedom. What were the habits and where were the pitfalls of the past that once held us in their grip before we were enlightened. They are still there even though we may have been once delivered from them. But when we get out of step with God and begin to take matters into our own hands, in no time they catch up to recapture us. We must be a step ahead of ploys that could so easily cause setbacks. God reveals the strategies and schemes intended to dismantle the work of God in us and through us. Therefore it is required of us to walk in the Spirit in sync with the Lord is timing that we do not succumb weakness of the flesh and the wiles of the devil.

15 Oct 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: October 15

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:4

The trials that we face have a far greater purpose than the aggravation and pain that we often suffer. Isolated from God’s intent, some would think that we had been abandoned to face the giants of perplexities alone. It is when nothing is left but God’s promises that faith is called into action. What we received during those moments when could clearly see Him and experience His blessings must keep us when we enter into the fog. Faith to endure is the patience that must further develop us. We learn to wait on the Lord and not attempt to rush the process. God has more to teach is in these dry cold winter seasons than we could ever learn in the springtime of life. This is when our faith is tested as to its authenticity. How would we ever know whether we love God for who He is or merely love Him for what He gives? On the other side of the test is a faith that endures. We can then see Him for who He really is and not just image Him to be who we would wish for Him to be. Faith molds our character that we may become a reflection His own.

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.

10 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 10

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, (9) and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; Ephesians 3:8-9

The assignment of the Apostle Paul is to be extended through every saint of God. He has graced us to put on display what is hidden in Christ. It is not merely a matter of speaking the truth, but we must become the truth of which be speak. The transformation of a sinner’s life to becoming a saint is a mystery. It cannot be scientifically explained. The work of grace granted to all, even to those who were not born as children of the promise have been given the privilege to fully participate in this marvelous experience. Why would it be that we should hide what has been so freely given to us when the objective was to convey to others what we have received? The way we show our appreciation for the gift of God is to display it to the world. The reason it was hidden is because it was reserved, not for the wise and the prudent because they think they know what they really need. It is to be revealed to those who have come to know that there is a deeper need within them than what they are able to meet alone. God will bridge the gap between our deepest desire and need and His perfect will. Only then will the heart find the satisfaction that will cease its wandering in all directions.

08 Sep 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: September 8

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” John 16:14

The work of the Holy Spirit is to arrest our thoughts and energy and guide them in a new direction. He will give us an understanding of all things that belong to Jesus Christ. Beforehand our thoughts would wander and attach themselves to things that destroy the soul. Before He intervened there existed no passion to pursue Christ because His life to us had no appeal. Some would attempt to redefine Christ’s life and mission in order to pursue their own passions and goals. Their emptiness remained when the activity ended. There was no lasting effect to their experiences.

There is no contentment unless the Holy Spirit is completely in charge. He will not compete with the pettiness of selfish interests. He is committed to those things that please the Father alone and will not allow anything to get Him sidetracked. What we have learned and received of Christ is clarified and applied to the soul. As the Son did only those things that please the Father, so it is with us who are led of the Holy Spirit. We will sense His grief when our ways sway towards a different path. We will sense His pleasure as we maintain that course that He has prescribed. What a privilege we have to be led by the Holy Spirit! The Eternal reaches down into time in order to envelope the temporal in order to lift mortals to a new place and a new vision. Once we see with the Lord what He has always seen, we no longer wish to entertain ideas beneath the standard now revealed to us. Even when we drift in thought and action, the same Spirit reminds us of who we are. It is the knowledge of Christ that changes us. Once we have been changed, our contentment is with godliness. Those allurements are outside of us and no longer in us. His glory is our good and His pleasure becomes our peace of heart and mind.

21 Aug 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: August 21

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time is different from seasons and seasons are not the same as time. Contained within each season is the designated time to accomplish all assignments, but when one is unaware of the season, they waste the opportunities granted. Each is gifts from God our Maker. There are low seasons when the ebb tide is low without sufficient refreshing rain to water the fields. The harvest passes without produce because of conditions which are beyond our control. Then there are times when the ebb tide is high. The waters are plentiful, the fields are watered, but there are no laborers to first plant and then gather in the harvest. Whether it be low season or high season, the preparation for participating in the work must be the same. Paul told his son Timothy to “preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season.” There is time for every purpose under heaven and there is a purpose for every season which contains sufficient time to prepare for what God is about to do. It is our privilege and responsibility to redeem the time, to take full advantage of each moment not as down time but as valuable and sufficient for fulfilling that part which at that moment ought to be exercised.

20 Aug 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: August 20

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.”Romans 5:3-4 (KJV)

A price tag cannot be placed upon the lessons learned in and through troubled times. We often know how we should feel and respond, but to be honest, the character of that response may not been developed within us yet. Many call this faith while it is actually dishonesty. David, the Psalmist gave expression to his heart, having various trials, set-backs and disappointments, but asked God to work the right response within him. Our mere words alone will not deliver us, but what we are becoming as result of God s; working on us and in us is the aim. “Tribulation worketh patience and patience worketh experience or character. Eugene Peterson in the Message paraphrase puts it this way; “and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary — we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

It is through our experiences with the Lord that we develop a hope that will not fade when the scorching sun of adversity appear or the dark clouds of disappointments and setbacks obscure our view. There is a hope that continues to rise within us knowing that God is not through with us. Yet in wonder we anticipate in alert expectancy the next move of God as to what He would do next! There is always a tomorrow for the believer who has put his trust in God. The tribulations are leading to something that awaits us beyond the horizon. When the sun rises again, He will enable us to see what we were unable to see in the dark. It can only be seen in the light of His love.

31 Jul 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: July 31

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25

Is Church the place that we attend or a people in the process of being made? Many place more emphasis on place than in purpose. It is not a matter of getting what we consider to be our needs met. To be honest, we do not really know precisely what our needs are. There are symptoms, but our needs go much deeper. God knows. He knows our frame or the substance on which all that we have become was constructed upon. The foundation of our soul; mind, will, and emotion, is taken into account when the Word of God is spoken under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We are challenged at the very core of our being in order to discover His intentions for our lives. We are not in place to merely receive affirmations. They will only strengthen the soul in its rebellious state against the knowledge of God. He is our Father. He rebukes us, challenges us, and affirms us. Oftentimes Church becomes a very uncomfortable place. We are called to reckon with God in relation to the sin that so easily beset us in order for His character to be formed in us. We are not human beings, but rather human becomings. We are a work in process. Whatever we are becoming, all that we expose ourselves to contribute to the formation of our lives. Every moment counts. Time is too valuable to be wasted.

Many have opted out of attending Church altogether. Their expectations were not met, or a disappointment was so devastating that they distanced themselves from the Church. Maybe unrealistic expectations have driven you away. It could have been the test of character warranting a difference response from you. The Church does not comprise of perfect people, but rather committed people. The commitment will be tested but the Word of God will bring understanding over time. Patience is the virtue which must be established with our hearts. God is beckoning His people to come home and be established.

Attend Church this week in order to worship God. Allow Him to reveal Himself to you and do not lean to your own understanding. The definition that I use for worship is “worship is our active response to God’s revelation of Himself whereby we declare His worth.” It is not about us. If worship is to be real it must be about Him! Out of our worship He will be glorified and His glory will always be for our good. You may not see it now, but when patience is perfected we are made to see further. We can then see aspects of the Kingdom of God unknown to us before His work in us began!