Forget Not!

Lest I forget Gethsemane lead me to Calvary, to love the Lord with all we have is the objective the Christian pursues. This is the climax of our "pursuit of holiness", to echo the Lord Jesus’ words “it is finished” or at least will be for the struggling pilgrim when he arrives. The Apostle Paul knew he had run his race and the end had come and his words where, “I have kept the faith”. To be a man with just a slither of his commitment would be so rewarding and who doesn’t have memories we can draw from, those times when we cried out to Jesus and he suckered us in his loving arms.

“Our Father”, a famous and well known prayer, now move through each line of the prayer, a fresh reminder of where we have come from and what God had done for us. A miraculous intervention, to save a sinner like me, with all my mistakes, bumps and bruises as a reminder of how far I have come, thank you Jesus and yet I have still a ways to go before echoing those words.

When times get tough, just remember Gethsemane and the hardships of our beloved Saviour endured for us. It’s when our minds play this victim game that we tend to lose focus. We have been called to suffer and the purpose of the struggle will bring us through the other side refined and a lot more like Jesus in character. This part of our growth is referred to as “Baptism into suffering”. We never have to ask the question, why? If and when we lose sight of the call to arms let us remember Gethsemane. After all isn’t that what we all want? To be like our great Saviour.

And the only way to achieve even the slightest resemblance is to cry out and find grace in time of need, if not the task at hand will become impossible. I do not want us to be confused in application, it’s not about finding strength to be better at our jobs or help with an exam. That would be acceptable if we were to desire those traits, but surely it’s the good and perfect will of God that we look to embrace.  It’s all about self-denial, squashing our will for self-gratification at the expense of others. Closing the doors of sin in our lives, which takes on many shapes and forms. My prayer is that we see ourselves as we are, that God would shine His righteous light into any particular action at the appropriate time, so that we are not blinded by our own darkness. The wickedness of our hearts blinding us from the blemishes that stain our lives. The flesh is so full of treachery that I long to shake it, once and for all to put it off and what a day that will be. However, until then may we all run our race with a burning resolve to be more like Jesus even whilst we house these earthen vessels tainted by self.

Signing off

Tyrone

Crystal

Crystal is a word often used to describe clarity, and last night was such a night for me as God revealed a truth to me and it became clear as Crystal.

Deception is on every corner and the war is fierce and we are under a continual barrage of topics to take our minds of the truth in every area of our lives. A world filled with a “victims mentally”, a diversion, any cause to take our minds of what really matters, which is the WILL OF GOD for our lives. After all nothing else will count for much. We live and then we die and then eternity starts, where time is no longer a factor. One may save a dolphin or two or stop eating meat and somehow feel important enough to voice your efforts whilst picketing through the streets, doing your bit to save the planet. At what expense? God is the finally authority and certainly not privy to mankind’s approval on any matter whatsoever. It’s not as if we “the clay” has power over the “Potter”. God was never created, HE IS! We are his creation. 

I trust your mind is beginning to soften and understand how blessed we are in Christ, I speak to the Christian. And where does the strength of God lie? I will not speculate, but only glean truth that we have been given. God’s power is in his VOICE. He speaks and it comes to pass. God says and it happens. How the mechanics behind that actually works, I cannot say, however what I do know is when God gives a command it happens, accept when his creation rebels, the apple of his eye, Adam and Eve on their own mission decided to do it their way. Every planet orbits whilst holding its correct position, God has command it so, and yet mankind his prize creation, those created in His image, freewill their own persuasions on others and don’t give a damn about the will of God! The day of judgement is just around the corner…    

Let us now use our imagination, slow down and try visualise creation prior to God’s intervention. All we are told is that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. This is how the Bible introduces God with its first line. A crucial point that so many have missed, no wonder there are so many off on a tangent looking to save the planet. Misdirected energies moving people away from God instead of toward Him. People have been so blinded by this, when stripped down they actually believe that they can outsmart God. A fruit of Satan. Did you know that God is going to destroy the earth and make a new one from scratch, there will be no patch work done and those who have bent the knee to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ will be its benefactors housing a glorious eternal spiritual body.

Let me explain; if God’s power resonates with his instruction, then how foolish would it be to go against it? It would be something like a man trying to go toe to toe with superman. The outcome an obvious one, unless he himself was made from kryptonite. We are carnal and God is a Spirit, an eternal entity, the One who is without beginning or end. We have so much more to learn of Him. However we have certainly been given enough information about His existence that it’s only the fool who would turn a blind eye and yet this seems to be the very thing that set God off against His creation. Mankind worshiping the creation instead of giving Him, the creator of all things, due benevolence. Quotes like, “the planets have aligned” or “mother earth” and the like, what rot!

Here is the verse to prove my thought; “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18) - men and women rebelling against God with their own agendas, whilst their sin fuels their passions. 

Nevertheless in spite of it all God has “SO LOVED” that he has given us an escape and it not taking the dairy farmer to task as we look to close them down but rather the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh is the way, the truth and the life. He is the only answer. Repentance from us is require, a confession of our sins to God and not to a priest who then resolves us of our sin that is just another diversion. Salvation is personal and it must be by faith, individuals calling out to God from their closets. We have been instructed by the same voice who spoke the creation into being to call out unto Him so that we may escape the prevalent judgement, as it is coming. No differently to the rising and the setting of the sun. 

The only question we need to ask ourselves is whose side are we on, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

Counsel

Sitting under the counsel of God’s Word has a phenomenal influence upon one's understanding. The confirmation of the change on our perception is staggering, the work of God the Holy Spirit is miraculous, changing hardened selfish individuals to resolve to lay down their lives for others. Society always looking for magic formulas to stand out from amongst the crowd. The bestselling techniques for the salesperson, the most effective diet for the one looking to trim down and so on. But as for the Christian, faith comes from hearing the Word of God and in turn it’s our faith that feeds our hope and our hope which energies our love one for another. After all, that’s what it is all about, LOVE and yet so many miss it. Why? I believe it is linked to our selfishness, instead of giving we are always looking to take and it’s about our rights and the privileges of others matters just so long as we are not left out of the mix. This is where the love of God is magnified so beautifully.

Let us explore…

I speak now to the Christian, please do not overlook the magnitude of God’s love, take a moment and consider some facts. Positionally, God is at the top, there is no one higher than Him. No one has the ability to teach him anything. The first Covenant, the law of God, although perfect in requirement what it lacked was an ability to set the captive free. It held the sinner in bondage to a law that was impossible to keep. Not that the law of God isn’t perfect in letter, it is. It exemplifies the character of God and the requirement He expects from his creation. Sadly sin had disqualified mankind of ever achieving that objective, save a few men that over time pleased God. Job and Daniel are two men that come to mind. Men who lived prior to the achievements of Christs victory on the cross and yet they seemed to be totally committed to the will of God for their lives. Men you silenced Satan. What an outstanding achievement. However, although we are able to glean from the Bible how they please God though their commitment to Him, these where isolated accounts through history, until the Lord Jesus Christ conquered death on that cruel Roman cross, freeing up a multitude of people to cry “Abba Father”. The second covenant proofing that the greatest of these three, “faith, hope and love” is LOVE! "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes on him would not perish but inherit eternal life." Put another way, it the love of God that actioned him into giving sinners a lifeline, but it came at a heavy price, His son, God in the flesh, had to die, be buried and then be raised from the dead to make a way for mankind to get back into a rightful relationship with our creator. What truly amazes me it the driving force behind God’s decision, it wasn’t guilt or pity, NO! It was the love of God that actioned Him into sending us a lifeline. This is why if you reject the work of the cross as your own personal lifeline and you do not embrace it with all you have, the Love of God will elude you. The outcome on the other side of death will be his wrath, the opposite extreme of his love. Imagine if God went to such lengths to highlight his love for us, having his own son crucified so that we could find freedom from the law of sin and death. The opposite must also be true, how severe will the wrath of God be? But today the love of God is on offer, praise the name of Jesus. "Whoever calls upon the name of Lord will be saved", but call you must.

I implore you, today is the day of salvation and do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation. Their distrust of the voice of God on display for all to witness, with an undertone of what is God doing? We do not have the right to challenge God, ever! However we do now have the right to cry Abba Father, thank you Jesus.

Signing off

Tyrone

Victory

There is no other name where by a soul can be saved, save the name of Jesus Christ the Lord and any weapon fashion against the Christian will not prosper, it cannot for God has so willed it, Jesus has conquered all of our enemies and He did it in a body like ours. Think on that and be still. Give thanks with a grateful heart remembering the love of God and the extent of it. There are many religions propagating many different solutions but they are all noise looking for betterment. Religion depends on us but Christianity depends of Christ, praise His name now and forever more, get on the bus or you shall be doomed for eternity. It is a simple solution, however we must agree with the psalmist if we are to find rescue…

(Psalm 51:5)  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 

Here we see a true understanding of our station before a Holy God and how we compare. We have been hewn from a rock of sin and not from a sheet of innocence as the world loves to project. Even now as I pen these words I sense the resistance. There is no doubt that a baby’s mind is uncorrupted by the completeness of sin and yet they are beings just waiting to find their form as sinful creatures. It is impossible for it to turn out any other way and as much as our children are the apple of our eyes, they teach us the most about this truth. It doesn’t take long to witness sin beginning to forcibly mould their characters. The first tantrum when things do not go their way or how they learn to squirm into position to win their parents over so that they end up having their way. And then we catch them red handed in their first lie, really the list is endless. However, there is no doubt to what we see, but we knew that already, all we needed to do was have a long hard look in the mirror. Sin is the archenemy of God and Satan is the father of it all. This is where the ultimate battle begun and where is will end; we will be in either of the camps, of this I am certain, sin will always look to disguise its true colours as acceptable. It will always play itself off others; “I am not as bad as her” as it looks to justify its actions. But above all, it will always challenge the WORD OF GOD. We will never find true deliverance until we come to the same place David did and for some it may take a catastrophic disaster to come to our senses. I thank my Heavenly Father and my glorious Saviour for the hard knocks in my life as futile as most have been, they have shaped me into a position of weakness, seeking out God’s mercy and His grace. True strength is found in Him and once we truly see ourselves for who we are and accept our realities will we then be able to cry out unto the One who has it in His Power to save, Jesus the man who died and then was raised from the dead, the son of God, the God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob!

Stop that “strawman” in its tracks, we are all sinners and rotten to our core, we need the grace of God to save us from ourselves and until we see ourselves as such we will have a hard time falling to our knees and seeking our God’s forgiveness for our sins. Remember the two thieves on the cross as they conversed with the Lord Jesus, how do you see yourself? Where do you fit in and what will you do about it? I have made up my mind, as for me and my household we shall bow the knee to Jesus.

    

Thank you Lord Jesus; just as you have been merciful to me I ask that you be merciful to all who now find themselves sharing my thoughts.

Signing off

Tyrone

Hope!

Hope! We all have it, in one form or another, but as for the Christian we feed our hope as our character is formed through the trial of life, without it we would be like water tossed to and fro as the wind skims the surface and the undertow tugs away at our resolve. Without hope we would be of all people most miserable. However, it’s through the difficult times in life that highlights the hope we have in Christ, if not we haven’t really understood the purpose of the “trial of life”. It’s the struggle that builds our hope, which is; “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1Co 15:52-53)

Death will come to some, but not to all, immortality our crown, but more than that we shall be like Him, individuals free from sin and co heirs with Christ. Sons of the living God, God will call us his sons, He will personally declare us as such to the angels and the unbelievers, those would thought they knew better than Him, wow! When I begin to ponder on these things my mind jumps for joy, how could it not? The hope we have in Christ and HIS perfect FINISHED work is like marrow to the bones, a comfort to the heart and it bring a song to my lips.

Remember this Christian, there is a day not too far away where we will see our Saviour as He is, not a physically marred weak man hanging on a cruel Roman cross, but the RISEN CHRIST IN ALL HIS GLORY! And know this, we too will have a body similar to His, praise God for the hope we have in Him. Without the love of God none of this would be ours, WOW!

So let me leave you with this thought, its character which produces hope, so before we ask why is this happening? Let us peel back a layer of the brilliance of God and then we will bless Him for His genius, knowing that it’s the “trial of life” which produces hope. Can an olive release its goodness without being crushed?

Thank you Father for including the Christian in your master plan, I love you and just to be allowed to see a snipped of your brilliance puts a skip in my step and warms my soul, to God be the glory now and forever more, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone