Reflections on Deeper Things

A Book Like This

2009-07-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Oh, this is such a book; such a lovely book! Upon its opening, hope springs out like light bursting through a cloud. Joyful songs have been written with its words and sung through ages past, lifting the soul of man above this care-worn place which he calls home.

I do not worship this book; no, I worship Him alone who wrote it. But I’ve loved its pages, bent and soiled from its many readings. Its words are dear companions to me now. I sleep with them. I eat with them. I go about my day with them.

It is a book of living words breathed on by the Holy Spirit . . . have you ever read a book like this before?

No Longer Irish

2009-06-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

So, Ireland, you’ve crumpled. You have lost your courage and Brussels stands to win against you. Money has yet once again trumped the character of nobility. The grand green land is no more, for the grand free people of Ireland have willingly enslaved themselves to a foreign power.

You are going to vote for the Lisbon Treaty and finally bury your Irish hearts in the grave dug by Brussels. Dear fair folk what are you about to do? Your fishing waters stolen. Your pride pushed under. Your lands sold away to the EU masses until your Ireland is no longer Irish.

Sad-a-day for Ireland . . . I think the angels weep.

It Is Yours

2009-05-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

It is yours. It is all yours, though you knew it always was. The world has no hold on it – though it has tried. Again and again I turn it back to you. Again and again you fill it to overflowing till I have something I may give to others.

My heart is yours and gladly so! And now you take this heart to deeper places. I will go. I willingly go where you wish to take me. Less of me and more of you is not an easy place to get to. But I will go . . . it is the place where life is found.

Set Upon a Hill

2009-05-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we stand alone. Sometimes it is necessary. A lone light in the dark, a lone voice in the wilderness; but a bright light and a clear voice nonetheless.

One against a thousand, we stand before that multitude of tribes and tongues who rage against Him – as they have always raged. But we are not a light hidden under a bushel or a voice that can be silenced. We are a light set upon a hill for all to see. We are a voice crying out across the wilderness, "Prepare the way; He is returning!"

Stand, dear ones, stand. Do not fear if none stand with you – you are a forerunner after all and must get used to standing all alone. Though not alone, for He stands with you.

Image: Snow Angel © James Christensen

http://www.greenwichworkshop.com/christensen/

Keep Me Watching

2009-05-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Father, keep me watching. Keep me wide-eyed and awake though darkness deepens in this world and others sleep. Time is passing far too quickly for slumber now. The end is coming with Christ’s return at hand, and still too many do not know, have not seen His depth of love or the power of His name.

Father, keep me watching. Keep that elixir of complacency far from my lips that I might remain alert and sober in these days. Someone must be a watchman on the walls; someone must cry the warning in the night. Let my voice join all the other watchers that you have.

Father, keep me watching!

Fear of Messes

2009-04-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

It's messy . . . sometimes . . . but it's fun. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the prophetic ones, require practice – like burgeoning young artists need. Sometimes there will be a mess. Who are the brave leaders who will allow a place for it, who will accept the messiness that comes in the learning process?

Those who are young in the gifts need encouragement to grow and not be afraid of mistakes. Holy Spirit whispers, “Go on . . . speak it out! . . . you can do it!” Is that my own thoughts? Is that Jesus? Can I be certain? So many questions. So much fear piled on their hearts from others who demand perfection.

The fear of man and the fear of messes is a plague to the church. Milk and messes all belong to babes . . . and it's okay.

http://www.nancyguzik.com/

Such a Thing as Chains

2009-04-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

Some know not how to break the chains that hold them. They only wish they could. Freedom is a sweet thing, especially to those who are not free.

We were not created for such a thing as chains. We were created in the image of a perfect God – but then sin came in and from that moment on we were born with chains. We do the very things that we dislike, and cannot seem to stop.

God! God glorious! God mighty! We are tired of these chains and long to break them! Come into our hearts and shine Christ’s light ‘til all darkness is dispersed and our bonds are broke asunder.

House of Cards

2009-04-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

And now that the house of cards which you built so carefully has fallen . . . what now? It was such a pretty house; almost perfect; all pieces in their place. Or so it seemed. But a wind came and blew it down. A wind you weren’t expecting.

Poof! . . . It’s gone.

There is a different way to build, you know. There is a way to build a house to make it stand against the strongest wind, the fiercest storm. I know of a rock which you can build your house upon. Not a pretty, fragile house of cards, but a solid, safe, enduring kind of house; the kind of house that children grow healthy in; the kind of house that keeps you through to old age; the kind of house that others long to be in. If you ever wish to know, I’ll show you the rock.

Nor Fight Long Nights in Prayer

2009-02-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

God gave me a dream one night . . .

A woman, very ill and crippled, was sitting in a wheelchair. A great compassion for her filled my heart. I saw her as a dear child. I approached her, took her face into my hands, and said, “Precious woman, you are healed.” Then I embraced her and she was instantly healed.

Here is what the dream meant. A time is coming when God will release healing through compassion in such a magnitude that we will not need to pray for hours over someone, nor fight long nights in prayer to send sickness fleeing. Jesus will heal through a love-soaked people and it will be simple: no long prayers, no systematic procession of words, no digging into their pasts to find out what happened. We shall weep and they shall be healed; we shall embrace them and they shall be healed; we shall touch them and they shall be healed. If faith can heal, and Jesus said love is greater than faith, then just think what love will do!

Ten Thousand Crowns

2009-02-22T20:58:00.001-08:00

When we see Him, when we stand before His glorious self, our crowns will be the first to go. Whether given to us by men or by God himself, they will be cast down before Christ’s feet as we marvel at His splendor.

Yes, the battle’s won. Yes, we have received our crowns of righteousness and life and glory. We have heroes of the faith who battled hard to have them. But there He stands and we are suddenly undone. Suddenly the accolades mean nothing. Suddenly we lift the crowns from off our heads and one by one they are thrown like victory laurels at His burnished feet. “Glory! Glory to the Lamb!” the cries go up and ten thousand times ten thousand crowns are cast before Him.

And everything in heaven, on the earth and under it, shall bow their knee.

I was Dark

2009-02-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

I limped in half-hearted steps and found it hard to be upon my knees. When I did, I cried. That is all that came out of me. I cried until I was weary of my crying. A dark night of the soul was visiting. Discouragement had all but overshadowed the joys of following you. My heart was not in my prayers and rote words fell from my mouth like stale pieces of bread.

But then I heard a comforting thing. I heard it stirring in my heart, a quiet note at first, and I lifted up my head to better hear it. You were singing over me! A song of deliverance in the night! What kind of love would trouble itself to embrace a heart that had little love to give in return; a heart that had nothing within it but a faded glory, a shadow of what it once was? . . . I was dark (in my heart), but lovely (in your eyes). Song 1:5

Teach Them they Can Hear

2009-02-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

Let the children go. They can see into the wide unknown. They can speak the words that make the heavens move. So many churches keep their children from actually following Jesus. They hold them back when their pure hearts wish to soar and hear the things of God. Let them go forth! Teach them they can hear, probably far better than you yourself, and signs and wonders will follow them quite naturally. Holy Spirit will rest upon them and they will walk on water. No longer put your unbelief into their sweet hearts – it is an encumbrance that they are quite unused to bearing.

The wind is changing quickly and they are ready to step out. Go on . . . let them . . . there are angels who will guard their step. Tell them to obey whatever they are told and let them go.

Artwork: Almost an Angel © David Knowles

http://realart.homestead.com/

A Light Shall Come

2009-02-04T19:38:00.001-08:00

The mountains above my valley are the seat of witchcraft for the entire west coast. There are many covens roosted here. Though the hills look lovely, the glens and shadowy places hide wicked goings-on. So up to the mountains I often climb to stand in the fields at the very top, and I shout as I look across the wide expanse of forest and the peaks to the sea beyond. “Jesus reigns over the Santa Cruz mountains!” I shout again until the darkness trembles at that glorious name. I shout once more, knowing that many hear my cry behind their shuttered windows.

God is here! God walks with me in these hills! His light shall penetrate the darkest hovel in these woods and there are witches who'll be saved. A light shall come into their gloom and lead them out; no more shall shadows hold them . . . and it all started with a shout.

Artwork: These Woods are Cursed © Linda Bergkvist
http://www.furiae.com/

Whooshed Away

2009-01-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

God’s wind is blowing and I am caught up like a leaf that’s whooshed away far over trees to who knows where. Can you not feel the joy of riding on such a thing? Riding upon God’s wind? There is no better way of being blown about than in the middle of heaven’s own whirling gale.

I am not afraid. In fact, laughter wants to tumble out of me at times as I realize I have absolutely nothing to hold onto. And there’s the fun of it! – head over heels I go, not knowing exactly why or exactly where I shall eventually end up. Religiousness was blown off me long ago; fear has tried to cling but keeps getting pulled away by this forceful flurry; all the dust of yesteryears has been cleanly shaken from my clothes and I am happily lighter for it.

The wind is blowing me to Kansas City to Mike Bickle's IHOP for three months and in two short weeks I leave. Why? . . . I am not certain. Then where? . . . Only God knows. But I'm ready for a God adventure.

The Only Road

2008-12-26T12:38:00.001-08:00

There is only one road that leads to heaven - it is narrow and not very crowded. It is the only way that the Creator of the universe allowed us, and try as we might, we mere humans cannot enter heaven any other way. Some don’t like that thought. Some get quite angry at it. How strange that those who do not wish to have a relationship with Jesus, in fact do not even believe in Him, would yet believe that there could be a heaven and they are angry that they might not be allowed in by some other route.

Some other route, do you say? . . . there is but one small problem with that – Jesus is the only road that leads through the gates. Humanity may rage and stomp and be as incensed as they wish, but any other road they take does not lead to heaven. It may lead them to a more self-fulfilled life (though I am not convinced that fulfilling “self” is actually very satisfying) but when their life is over their fulfilled-self will be cut off forever from the One whose presence on this earth is what gave it any kind of beauty.

There is only one way, only one road, because there is only one Jesus.

Just an Ordinary Babe?

2008-12-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

Was he just an ordinary babe who happened to change the history of the world? How is it that a tender little thing born in a scrubby manger two thousand years ago still stirs up so much angst today? Have you ever thought that perhaps he was more than just an ordinary babe?

God’s Holy Spirit hovered over him even then as he cooed and crawled and cried when his mother set him down. This little one was destined to rule the world, but not in the way that men thought. He brought no army with him but he cast down empires by the light that emanated from him.

What a merry Christmas it is this year to remember the child swaddled up in rags who changed the world. Truly, what a merry Christ-mas!

He Fell Hard

2008-11-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

He fell. He was most beautiful; the loveliest one amongst angels. He was the keeper of the song, chief musician extraordinaire with gemstones on his brow. He commanded legions of the heavenly powers and they did his bidding well . . . so well, that they followed him in the fall.

Charmer, deceiver, attempted usurper of the heavenly crown – his name once was Lucifer, once was a fair name. No more. Now he wages war against all creation and a bloody battlefield it is for he has lost his sting and it enrages him.

“I saw satan fall like lightning from heaven!” so said Christ. And he fell hard.

Once-orphaned One

2008-11-29T16:08:00.000-08:00

I am an orphan no longer. I know my Father now. I know the One who made me and the reason for which I was made. There is so much more than this dusty world which we inhabit; there is so much more than eye can see and mind can fathom, but it is there.

I longed for one to hold me and now He does, so tightly that none can snatch me from his hand. I hungered for a bit of bread and was invited to a banquet with tables full of feast. I huddled in the cold till someone covered me with a love that warmed my being with an unearthly warmth. It is a love that none can comprehend excepting that once-orphaned one who finally found a home in Him.

I have a home! Those are words that all men wish to speak.

Because of Love

2008-11-15T22:43:00.000-08:00

She was sixteen, a gentle thing. She came to know the One who loved her more than life. From that moment on she chose to follow Him, this one name Christ. But there was a problem. She had to tell her parents of this love. They were Muslims living in the Middle East and Islam does not allow for such a love, has never known such love and cannot comprehend it.

Her parents thought that they could beat it out of her, this love that gripped her soul. They tried. They kept her in her room for days, starving her between the beatings. But she would not recant – for she knew a love far greater than the temporary pain. And then she died.

Why did they kill her? Because of hate. Why did she not succumb and renounce her Christ? Because of love. Scream, abuse, deride, condemn – it is all for naught if Christ’s love has firmly gripped a heart. Love is the great combater and the tyrants of this world well know it . . . Christ is their greatest fear.

Storms Piled Against You

2008-11-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

You never thought it would be like this, did you. You thought once you followed Christ it would be calm sailing here on in, gentle waves carrying you softly along, sweet birds singing and all that. But then all hell broke loose – yes, say it like it is; that is exactly what happened. Hell broke loose against you because you suddenly became one of its greatest enemies: A Christ-lover, a Jesus-follower, a cleansed-one. And hell doesn’t much like that.

The storms piled against you with a violence you were not expecting. Nasty storms. Cruel storms. Uncomfortably wet and irritating storms. One right after the other. You thought for certain you would drown . . . but you didn’t! You’re getting your sea-legs after all and I think you will do just fine.

Welcome to the good side!

http://www.furiae.com/

Let Everybody Watch

2008-11-05T10:00:00.001-08:00

Presidents will come and go but they cannot change the grand scheme of things that God has planned. For God is in control not men. Men may think they are but the angels laugh at such a thought! Tiny, temporal humans made from dust, like molecules before the sun, think that they direct events? What a silly thought.

No, all things are moving forward just as planned by Him whom I call lovely. Darkness shall increase, but the glory of the One who died and resurrected shall shine brighter than the sun – and we who are the molecules that stand before this sun? We can each choose to bow our knee to Him or not. So let the play continue on this stage we call "the world" and let everybody watch. God shall have the last applause.

Are We Animals or Are We Humans?

2008-10-20T12:22:00.001-07:00

Do you remember Silo and Roy, the supposedly gay penguins in the zoo? Well, Silo has left Roy and is now mating with a female penguin named Scrappy. Didn’t Silo know that he was supposed to be gay and that a children’s book was written about him and Roy? Didn’t he know that he was a model for human behavior and that homosexuals were touting him as the perfect example of what’s natural and normal, what’s morally and ethically desirable for humans?

Infanticide is widespread in the animal kingdom. From bears to lions, there are many who kill their little ones. If we are to think as the gay community thinks, then we should believe that killing our toddlers is an ethical and quite natural thing to do – for the animals do it, do they not?

Animals don’t care for their elderly; in fact many of them kill the old and sickly of the group. Ahh, now that is where we find ourselves alike! Humans also euthanize their old and sickly. But is this phenomenon because animals have risen to our height or because we have lowered ourselves to that of animals and decided human life is not a sacred thing?

Are we animals or are we humans with a soul, a conscience, and an intellect? Seeing how some look toward the animal kingdom for their moral values and their identity leaves one to wonder.

Flowers Growing where they Shouldn't

2008-10-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

They cannot resist, you know. When they pass by your garden the fragrance beckons them – for He dwells there and a wild loveliness has taken over. They cannot resist stopping for a moment, those in the rushing world who have no garden of their own. And every time they pass your garden they will breathe in deep and yearn for what is growing there.

It is not an orderly, neat and tidy, all-things-in-a-row type of garden that Jesus has cultivated. Oh, no, that will not do for Him! It is a boisterous, flowers-growing-where-they-shouldn’t type of garden; it is an unpredictable, never-knowing-what-will-pop-up-next type of garden; it is an audacious, blooming-even-in-the-winter type of garden.

How sad that all in the church do not possess such a plot of land. Perhaps they should invite Him in to cultivate their garden.

Mercy On Our Babes

2008-10-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

It is a good scene. It is right and sits well in the heart to see it. A man and woman make a family as it has always been – a man and woman become one flesh quite naturally within the sanctity of marriage. God is amazing in how He created family, how He created man and woman to love each other and beget their little ones!

California has the chance to vote for truth or to reject it. What will it be? Will Prop 8 be passed? When an innocent babe looks up will she gaze upon her mother and father or will she see two broken women or two broken men who, in their rebellion and in the darkness of their understanding, have exchanged the natural relation for an unnatural one? Do we want our little ones to be subjected to such strange, dark fruit as this? God have mercy on our babes who need the gentle touch of mother and the strong protection of father both.

God created marriage to be between a man and a woman and since the dawn of man it has been so – are men truly so wise that they know better than God? I think not.

Inalienable Right

2008-09-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

Our Declaration of Independence states: “We have been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights . . . the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Yet some would disqualify that statement. Not only do they reject the idea of a “Creator”, they reject the belief of the “inalienable right to life”. Gladly they embrace liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but the right to life they vehemently oppose. They believe that if one human’s life puts a difficulty upon another human’s life then that person who supposedly brings the burden should not be allowed to live. So playing both judge and jury they condemn that human to death.

Every day thousands upon thousands are violently robbed of their inalienable right to life by those who believe that it is their right to do so. And strangely enough they who do it are called the “gentler sex”.

My dictionary defines it as murder when one person takes the inalienable right to life away from another. What does your dictionary say?