WHAT are you THINKING???

I needed steel toed boots when I researched this one. I’ll wait here while you get yours. (You can get a good pair at Orchelin’s).

This is dedicated to Cynthia and Sandy…Yes, I finally understand.

Unless otherwise stated, scripture quotes are from the Holman Bible, as shown on the following web site: https://www.bible.com/

WHAT WAS I THINKING???

Proverbs 23:7a – For as he thinks within himself, so he is. NASB

It seems like this is a lifelong pursuit. Sometimes I approached this with Herculean effort, and sometimes I petered out before I even tried.

My thoughts were toxic. They were why I was continually failing at anything I tried. On the outside, I put on the bravado if “Charles in Charge“, but on the inside I was not so in charge.

At my very best, I have very little self-control, and the things I think eventually sneak out and come to life in the manifest world. I tried self-help books, I tried “The Secret” (It is an empty gun when God’s will is not the target). I tried therapy (And have sent many a therapist to mental wards…it only takes a little peek into my mind to drive any rational human in sane), and I tried the usual self-affirming tricks you learn in NLP classes (Look it up. It is the major tool used by advertisement agencies, the Press and the White House to get you to do whatever it is they want.). Nothing could affect a permanent change in my heart.

After repeatedly running out of gas in the self-help aisle, and seeing as I am now genuinely interested in doing whatever it is that Jesus wants me to do, I had to do a lot of digging.

Here is what I learned:

Matthew 24:34 – Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. – Jesus

I prayed for God to change my heart and thinking. I came to this point after decades of being my own worst enemy.

When I read Matt. 24:34, I was floored. The reason I was floored like a mop was, the fruit of my mouth was only evil and negative, and mostly filth. I could cuss with the best of any Drill Sergeant. I said whatever came to my mind, and it was mostly filth and hate.

I especially had trouble with this the harder I tried to be “Religious”.

James 1:6 – If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself.

Uh Oh. I realized I was not being a servant to the Lord, but being a RELIGIOUS person. See, a religious person can fake Christianity (Or any other religion) really well, but like the man said, “Anyone can stand on their head for a couple of weeks. Let’s see what happens when it gets tough.”

I don’t know about you but I hate religion. I hate when people, including myself, try to be all pious and “holy”, and pretend to be righteous, when even Ray Charles can see that, when you run out of steam, you show that you are a fake. I HATE that.

James 1: 5-7 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him.

On my own, I have a foolish heart. I am not known for my “King Solomon-like” wisdom. When I realized that, I surrendered again to the Lordship of Christ, who works in me His will for my life. You cannot fake this, either. It is either faith, based on Jesus’s free gift of Salvation, and your desire to serve him as He is the Lord, or it isn’t. It has to be genuine. So, I confessed that I am a self-righteous fool, who only plays at being a Christian, but I fail at it. I confessed that My heart is full of dark, squiggly, slimy evil, and asked God to shine the light of His love and Grace in my heart. (You shoulda seen the roaches run for cover when THAT happened! They hate the light. You can run, but you can’t hide! Bwa Haa haaaa!)

I Samuel 16:7b – Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”

This is where you have to go into this whole thing aware of what you are asking. If you have given your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, The Spirit of God will come in and look around, and until He gets your heart redecorated to look like HIS heart, there has to be some turning away from your own ways. God does amazing Heart Surgery.

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.

So, if you are going to dedicate your life to Jesus, and that is what it really means to be a Christian, then the first place God is going to deal with you is your thoughts, your attitude, your sin, and your failures. He HAS to change the intent of your heart. Human intent is at war with God’s will for Humans. We are having WAY too much fun being the “Master of our domain.”

But if you have genuinely given your heart to Jesus Christ, you will not be able to help it, but to ask Jesus to change you and your heart until you are the very reflection of Him. Until this happens, the Holy Spirit will work to teach you, to convict you, to lead you to repentance, as you serve, and grow to be just like Christ.

Now, if you are like I was, a complete and total Jack-Ass, then you are in for some rough times. Trust me on this one. But don’t despair, God has all the time in the Universe to deal with you. The sooner you submit, the easier it will go. Don’t be like I was, don’t be a Jack-Ass.

Jeremiah 23:29 – “Is not My word like fire” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and like a hammer that pulverizes rock? <==(I think He was referring to my thick skull, there.

THIS IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH ON YOUR OWN!

I tried. Remember I said that a minute ago? I gave it over 20 years, and I failed every time. It is God, and God alone who changes you.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.

You don’t have the will unless God gives it to you. You don’t have the desire to change, unless God calls you to the changes. If you try to do it on your own strength, power, and “wisdom”, then you are A: A fool, and B: BEING RELIGIOUS!!!

Stop it, and trust God. He loves you and has nothing but good plans for you if you submit.

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

God will change your heart, and your thinking and your intent so that you will become just like Jesus. HE does this by HIS OWN power.

So, getting back to where I was earlier:

Proverbs 18:21 – Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Jesus says, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Man, was I in a fix. Nothing good was coming out of my mouth, so that meant the intentions of my heart were not in God’s control. I gave control of my heart to God. And when I did, we did the laundry. My thoughts changed. My attitudes changed. My INTENTIONS changed. And they all changed and are still changing to the point that I can just begin to see the image of Christ in my heart.

Along with a heart of submission, there is one thing I have to do in participation with God in this change:

Proverbs 4:23 – “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

I have a list of things I need to watch out for. It is the usual things that will get a human in trouble, the lust of the eye, the lust of the heart, and the pride of life. Like Paul said, if it weren’t for these things, there’d be no sin.

Galatians 5:24 – Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

My desire is to serve Christ and Christ alone. This is not a decision you can make on your own, and it is not something you can fake. It is either real, or it is not. But total submission to Christ IS what being a Christian means. We are still here after we believed so we can live a life that reflects Jesus Christ, so that others will be led to eternal life through Christ. That is why you are still on this planet (IF you are, indeed, a Christian.)

Philippians 4:8 – Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise — dwell on these things.

That verse speaks for itself. But this takes discipline. Thinking on these things has changed my attitude and my heart. It has made me more sensitive to the urgings of the Lord. It has made me more willing to show Grace and Mercy to those who need it. It has made it possible for me to see the difference between Godly behavior, and no so godly behavior. All this is true because it is the Holy Spirit working in me to effect these changes.

Philippians 4:6-7 – Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Don’t worry about ANYTHING. This is a tough one, but when you allow God to change the intent of your heart, and you “think on these things”, you learn you CAN take EVERYTHING to God, with a grateful heart. And I promise you, I am a witness to this personally, The Peace of God, which passes every thought, WILL guard your hearts and minds IN JESUS CHRIST.

God will guard your heart and mind. It begins when you are genuinely IN Jesus Christ, and it ends because you are IN Jesus Christ.

SO, WHAT IS YOUR POINT???

I am glad you asked. The whole point of getting your mind right is so that the Mind of Christ will be in you. When the mind of Christ is in you, you will have the intentions of Christ, and not your own selfish ones. When you have the intent of Christ in you, you will bear good fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

When you bear good spiritual fruit, you will be like Jesus, and you will be able to be living proof that Jesus Christ is Lord, and you will be able to lead others to Jesus Christ.

So, watch your mouth. Give your whole heart to Jesus Christ and stop being religious.

You will be effective as Jesus’s disciple when you have let the Holy Spirit do heart surgery on you.

Now, let’s be about it!

I love you

David G. Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Thank you for your response. ✨

Faith

Alright, people, this is a LONG one. Go get something to drink, and maybe a snack.

“He saved us —not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy— through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5 HOL

Leaving the Military Base for good didn’t really come as a surprise to me. I actually knew I would be leaving last November, 2012. What I didn’t know then is the manner I would be leaving it. Sometimes God has to give you a nudge to get your attention.

Here’s the deal. I realized what had gone wrong with my walk with God, some 20 years ago. I was doing it all on my own effort. I had fallen for a cheap grace; I knew in my heart that the call God placed on my heart a long time ago (1986 or 7), was the kind of call that means committing myself to that call.

Here is what I mean by that: At the on-set, I knew that what God had called me to was the kind of thing that takes total commitment. It was the type of calling that I could not, and would not do on my own. Not having the patience to grow up, I took matters in my own hands, ran WAY ahead of God’s will for me, and attempted to do it all on my own. My walk WAS pretty effective at first, but after a while, I grew fatigued. When I grew fatigued, and because I was doing this ahead of the will of God, I didn’t have the power to sustain what I was doing.

Instead of going back to where I should have been, and taking the time to grow up, and finding the time and wherewithal to go through the disciplines of spiritual growth, I gave up on God, and I gave up on everything else that relates to Christ.

I learned a few things over these last several years about that. One thing I learned was that I had to get back to the very basics. I had to be re-grounded. In 2007, I began searching for God, again. I didn’t know, at that time, that I had not left His hands. It just felt that way. The loneliness and desolation I felt was an isolation of my own creation. I learned this from being a daddy. Sometimes, you just have to let your kid alone with their thoughts, let them be mad at you, and let them struggle with the issue at hand. Eventually, if you have been doing your job as a parent, that kid will come back, and peace will be made between you. Hopefully, we both learned wisdom in that process.

God, however, does not need to learn anything. So, if I had a problem with God, Christ, religion, etc, then it was not God that was wrong, it was my perception, or understanding of God that got in the way. God is not going to let us play with strange fire, any more than you will let your child play in the middle of the Highway at rush hour.

It took me from 2007 to the present to learn what I am going to share with you. And this is fundamental to understanding what it means to be a Christian.

Salvation is a work of God.

Humans are not capable of saving themselves. Humans do not think they need saving. Despite of the ever present hole we feel in our heart that tells us something is missing, that something is wrong, it does’t occur to us that we are separated from God. Nothing fills that hole either. Trust me, I have tried. There is not enough adventure to satisfy that missing piece. There isn’t enough sex, food, money, material belongings, or vacations that can touch that hole in our soul. Still, we go out of our way to fill it, thinking that the next adventure will do the trick. We become objective junkies of whatever it is we pursue to fill that hole; yet nothing satisfies.

Somehow, someway, because it is not God’s will that anyone should perish, you hear the gospel message. You learn that we are sinful creatures. You learn that your best efforts will never please God. You learn that the wages of sin is death. But, while you were still enemies of God, He sent Jesus as His only begotten Son, to die in your place for that sin. And if you believe in your heart that Jesus did this for you, and if you confess with your mouth that his resurrection was proof that he has the right and authority to bring the dead to life, then you are saved.

Before, you were already dead because of sin. Now, you have eternal life because of Christ Jesus.

You didn’t do this by your own power. You were going along, pursuing anything that would fill that hole in your soul. It was God that drew you to the right place at the right time. There really was NOTHING AT ALL you could have done on your own to get to this place. (Titus 3:5). God draws us to Himself. Humans have no desire to be there. All we know is that something is missing, and it takes God to show you what it is.

What you received is faith, so that you can believe. That too is a gift from God, and not something you already have (Ephesians 2:1-5, 8). And here is where I get back on track.

REAL faith , saving faith, is neither defective or short-lived. REAL FAITH endures forever (Phil 1:6 & Hebrews 11). God gave you that gift of real faith. It never dies if it is real.

I had to ask myself a LOT of questions at this point. I will cut to the chase, though and go to the answers. The questions are self evident.

There is a gospel being taught in America. This gospel is NOT being taught anywhere else. Friends of mine, from all around the world, have talked to me about this gospel.

My friends live in a world where merely mentioning Jesus Christ in public is the death penalty. Or, they may go to jail. It is risky business being a believer in those countries. The Faith and Grace and commitment they have is genuine, real, forever, and powerful. It gets tested every moment of every day.

My friends talk to me about our cheap grace.

American churches have gotten to the point that they teach that, all you have to do is give some sort of mental assent to the fact that Jesus lived, and you are saved. There is no need to see a change in your daily life. You can go on and do whatever it was that you were doing.

American churches have stopped teaching that it is sin that separates us from eternity, and fellowship with God. It is this cheap grace that has allowed the Roman Catholic Church to say to the Moslems, your path to God is equal to our path to God. After all, there is plenty in the Koran and the Hadith that teaches that the historical Jesus existed. By the logic of cheap grace, that makes the Moslems Christians, and the Christians Moslems.

Cheap grace teaches that it is not necessary to do anything other than give some mental assent to Jesus. That you are saved if you do this. But this is NOT what the scriptures teach. (I recommend two outstanding books by John MacArthur, “The Gospel According to Jesus“, and “FAITH WORKS – The Gospel According to the Apostles” for a really deep discussion on this topic).

Where I went wrong in my earlier walk was that I only acknowledged God, and only acknowledged Jesus, and decided I had better get busy “doing” what “Christians” do. And it fell flat on its face. Because I did not have a complete understanding of the effective work of God in my life, I was not able to sustain a relationship with God.

If you are simply going around acknowledging that Jesus existed, then, you are not saved. SATAN knew Jesus existed, and HE is not saved either. There is coming, in our lifetime, a falling away from the Church. That will happen when those who say they belong to Christ are given a choice to serve Christ, or serve something that will cause less stress in their life. Humans always chose the easy path. It takes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord, and the faith that God gave you to stand up to the pressure. Those who live by cheap grace will discover that they are willing to sell their soul than acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Lord and the Savior.

The closest I ever got to what my friends overseas face was right after I was saved. I was with one of my Moslem friends. He had bought a new gun, and he wanted me to go shooting with him. I took my gun, and we went. I couldn’t shut up about Jesus. He pointed his gun at my temple and said that if I mention Jesus again, he will kill me. I mentioned Jesus. He pulled the trigger, and the gun jammed. God always protects children and fools. It is foolish to commit yourself completely to Jesus as your lord. It takes time, effort, and gets in the way of all your fun. But if you are saved, you will know in your heart that serving God is better than anything else you could possibly ever want to do. There is no cheap grace when you are on the firing line. Another Moslem threatened to storm in to my home, tie me up, rape my wife in front of me, cut her throat, and then see if I will still be a Christian. This is is actually what they do overseas to Christians. I told him that neither my wife, or I will ever denounce our faith. Fortunately, another friend from Lebanon stopped that guy.

In Ephesians 2:10, we learn that we are saved and fully justified BEFORE our faith ever produces a single righteous work. It is never the other way around. You are incapable of doing ANYTHING righteous until after you are saved and fully justified. Then you cannot produce on your own, but only produce by the will of the Holy Spirit working in you.

This gets us to the Object of our Salvation. The object of faith. The object in our faith is first, last, and always Jesus Christ HIMSELF. A creed, acknowledgment, or some sort of promise is NOT salvation. Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord AND Savior IS salvation. It is impossible to separate the two; Lordship and Salvation. It is impossible to please God without it, either. You can go and do all the works you want, but if it was not driven by the Holy Spirit, out of your love for Jesus Christ, you just wasted your time thinking that you have curried favor with God.

FAITH involves a personal commitment to Christ. (II Corinthians 5:15). Merely acknowledging that Christ exists is not being saved. Going to a church does not mean you will be saved, either. Being a deacon or a Sunday school teacher does not mean you are saved. Saved people will do these things, but we know that it is because the Lord has driven us to do it, and we have responded out of our love of Christ to get it done. We acknowledge that we do not have the power to do this on our own, but that God gives us the power to do it.

Works will happen if you are committed to Christ as your lord. If you have given your being to serve Christ. Works, however do not make you saved.

Now, here is where I get LOTS of lovely email. Go ahead and write. I love hearing from you.

All true believers follow Jesus.

“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 3:27-28

Simply acknowledging Jesus doesn’t get you saved. To repent because of your sin IS to have a change of heart. Faith and Repentance are concurrent. (Acts 2:38; 17:30; 20:21; 2 Peter 3:9) You do not see the need to repent until God has drawn you in, and until you receive the faith to see the need for repentance. The two happen at the same time. So check if you have ever repented. That is your first clue.

Repentance is not a work, either. It is an act of GRACE. It is by the grace of God that you are drawn to Jesus. It is by the grace of god that you realize the weight of your sin against God. It is an act of Grace that you are able to see what Jesus did on your behalf to take away your sin. It is an act of the grace of God that led you to repent, to turn around and follow Christ.

You will hear Jesus’s voice IF this is what has happened to you, and in you. You WILL follow Jesus Christ out of your love for him. Salvation is an act of Grace, and committing to Christ is not something you can do on your own, but only through the Grace of God. (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25)

Repentance will change your heart. Repentance will change the way you behave. Repentance will change your priorities. Repentance will lead you to a strong desire to please the Lord, Jesus Christ. Repentance, genuine repentance, means you will no longer desire to do the things you used to do. (Luke 3:8, Acts 26:18-20). Repentance is turning from sin. (Acts 3:19; Luke 24:47).

SALVATION IS NOT JUST A TICKET TO HEAVEN!

We read in Romans 6:23 that eternal life is the “gift of God”. This gift also includes everything that it means to be a Christian. It means to stop what you are doing and serve Him. It includes every aspect of your life. It includes all that is considered godly. (2 Peter 1:3; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:32)

Everything I have written above pertains to the struggle I went through from 2007 to now. I knew that my days were numbered at the Base, long before it happened. I knew this because I finally understood that I cannot merely acknowledge the historical fact of Jesus, and give only head knowledge for what he did. I needed Christ to become completely and irreversibly part of my very being.

I also knew, the minute I understood all of the above, that this will call for a change in my life. A radical change. God brought me to faith. There was noting I could do or read that would do it for me. Only God. I had to face my sin and depravity and see what that looks like to God. It is a state of being that deserves God’s judgement of death. But, in His mercy, he bestowed on me the faith to see that Jesus died on the cross for me, and the faith to accept that, because Christ has risen from the dead, I too will have eternal life if I believe in Him.

I knew that this will take a commitment. Anyone who knows me well knows my passions run deep, and when I commit, I really commit. But this commitment is not one of my own doing. It has deeper passions, a stronger love than I have ever imagined, and a purpose that makes all my former plans and schemes look meaningless. And the real evidence that this change is real, is the evidence of real change in my life.

The people who have taken the time to get to know me, have seen this change. It is not fake. I do not have to pretend to love or care. I do not have to try to love Christ, I simply LOVE Christ, and I desire with all my heart to follow him. I hear his voice.

I knew I would have to accept whatever change God brings to my life. But I knew for sure, my old life was over and done with.

Cheap grace does not bring you to this point. Cheap salvation cannot create in you the desire to follow Jesus. Cheap grace does not change you like the real Grace God bestows on you. Cheap grace says it is OK to keep on sinning, and you don’t really have to change anything about yourself to be saved.

Real salvation teaches you that, as long as you are human, you will still sin, but you will not pursue sin. You will hear Jesus’ voice and you will follow him. And when you do sin, you will feel its weight on your soul, and the interference it brings to your relationship with God. And you will repent of that sin. The JOY of your salvation will be restored. Real salvation means that it will be your hearts desire to please God, and follow Christ wherever he leads you.

I am unemployed in the sense that I have not had an income since April 10th, 2013. But that does not mean I do not work. I witness for Christ because I love Him. I write about the things of God because I am called to do this, and I LOVE doing this. This is not labor. Earthly labor saps you of your strength. Obedience out of Love for Jesus gives you more strength, more joy, more grace, more courage, more love.

I have been writing a lot about the Church. I have been accused of being an angry Christian. Of that, I am guilty. I am angry that we have sold our birthright for a cheap or alien gospel. We are the only country on earth that has people who think they are Christians simply because they go to church, or give some kind of mental assent to the fact of the historical Jesus. We have let other forces, spiritual forces, take over every aspect of our lives because we have been deceived into believing we are saved, when the evidence of salvation simply does not exist.

I was one of those “Cheap Grace” Christians. Except for one thing. I actually read the Bible. I have seen that what the Bible says is not what is taught in our Churches. Real salvation means a changed life.

I knew when I realized this, that the only answer for me was to surrender it ALL to His will. I have no idea where this will lead, but I do know I am obeying.

My challenge to you is to have the stones to examine your life, like I had to examine mine. See if your life is one that pleases God. See if your life is one of submission to Jesus Christ as Savior AND Lord. You either genuinely believe, or you don’t. You are genuinely saved or you aren’t, and the fruit of your walk will be the evidence of it, and it will exist, not because YOU did it, but because, when you submitted to Jesus, HE brought forth fruit out of your walk.

Want salvation? Let’s do what my friends overseas risk their lives for everyday. Get real salvation. Get real.

Now, go be about it.

I love you.

Faith

Who Are Called….

I”If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” – II Chronicles 7:14 KJV

Today, I asked God, “What should I write, today?” See, I had this really neat thing all outlined and ready to be fleshed out. I was excited that I had finished my homework ahead of time.

I arrived at the library, ready to write. I always pray before I write, because the last thing I want my meager tomes to be is an insult to God and his doctrine.

The next thing I know, I am putting away my outline, to be used for later. I am compelled to write today, the following, instead:

“If MY people, who are called by may name…”

I see this verse constantly posted on FB, and other places. It seems like a drive by shooting. It is just there, with no possibility for clarity. If you are His people, you already know this. If you are merely playing churchianity, then you may have heard this verse, but not comprehend what it means. If you do not belong to the Living God through Christ, then this is just all noise and no signal.

I beg your indulgence while I try, in my own way, to give this drive my verse meaning. I can only do this because this is the very thing I have been dealing with for these past 7 years. And IF you have been reading my other blogs, you know that I have written about the process with out calling it out in a single verse.

In a couple of my recent posts, we looked at who are God’s called out ones when we looked at “Who Is The Church?” (Parts I & II). And if you read yesterday’s post, “With God, All Things Are Possible”, you can see how God is dealing with me, specifically, in order to be made fit for His service.

You are “called out” if you were drawn to Jesus Christ. If you accepted the free gift of eternal life because He died in your place for the sin of the world. If you know you have been driven into His service.

The ekklesia, the called out ones, the gathering of believers, both individually, and corporately ARE the called out ones. We are the Body of Christ.

TO THE CALLED OUT ONES

Read the paper, look at the news (If you have a great B.S. filter, and a lot of discernment). search the web, and you can see that our nation is being remade in the image of evil. We are no longer a Godly nation. We no longer turn to the authority of God as our Sovereign leader, and His word as the baseline for all our moral judgement.

It is the “Called Out Ones” who have let this happen, and need to stop what they are doing and do what the verse above says. I, you, WE, need to individually and corporately fall on our face, fast in grief over our falling asleep at the wheel, and repent for being so careless with the Word of God. We have allowed ourselves to be distracted by people who have invaded our churches and gently led us away from the basic truths of the Doctrines of God.

We, the “called out ones” have given up on our responsibility to remain faithful to Christ, to endure to the bitter end, to serve selflessly. We have abdicated our responsibilities to others. WE are the ones to feed the poor, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, visit the prisoners. We are called to be the light of the World. When Jesus ascended, He didn’t strike camp and leave us without equipping us. We are His children. We have been given the authority, by Jesus Christ Himself to go in to all the WORLD, teaching the world all that Jesus has commanded.

We have chased after political correctness. We have bowed to a lesser god for the sake of our convenience. We tolerate preaching that appeals to our carnal selves, and we reject the teaching that is Given by the Word of God, and by our own Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I can say this because, for the last 20 years, I was very guilty of this, and more. Wake up believers. This land is going to recieve the Judgement of the Living God. NO nation has ever remained standing after throwing off the Sovereignty of God. We have gone from acknowledging that He alone is God, to claiming that WE ourselves are little Gods. Decide today what you will believe. There cannot be an autonomous Man and a Sovereign God. Will you be your own God, or will you return to the Living God?

We all, I me and US, need to humble ourselves. We need to repent of our individual sin. We need to return to the word as it is given, and not try to make it fit what we wish it said.

Are you the called out one? Ask yourself. Are you too afraid to mention Jesus Christ at your work? Jesus said that if you are ashamed of Him, he will be ashamed of you on the day of judgement. Are you afraid your life will be inconvienced, or disturbed, or even ruined if you literally obey Christ? Then you are not worthy of being His disciple. Get over yourselves. Repent. Obey the Lord.

We have become so vile that the Church of Laodicea looks like a Billy Graham Evnangelical event.

WAKE UP CALLED ONES. Do your job.

TO THE ONES PLAYING CHURCH.

If what I have written above offends you, GOOD. Do you say you are a Christian? Just because you go to a Church, doesn’t mean you are any more saved than, if you go to a Burger King you are a Whopper. If you are going “because it is good for the kids”, or “It looks good socially”, or “I make a lot more contacts there than I do anywhere else, and that is just good business”, then you are blaspheming the entire meaning of what it means to be a called out one.

Here’s the deal. You will know if you are called out. Here’s how. If you realized the depth and depravity of your sin, and saw that Jesus Christ was beaten and nailed to a Roman Cross, and took on the very wrath of the Living God, IN YOUR PLACE, and if this brought you to repentance, and you confessed that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God, and confessed it with your mouth, THEN you are called out. You have been given new life, and separated from your old life.

If you have not experienced this, then you are just playing Church.

You are no different from any ordinary sinner who goes to a strip joint instead of a church, except that person is being honest. You, friend are being a liar. Stop playing Church.

People, our nation has rejected God. Our nation has condoned lawlessness. Our nation has thrown off the Sovereignty of the Living God to pursue it’s own sovereignty. Our nation has condoned the brutal murders of our unborn children. Are we the worshipers of MOLECH, now? Do we sacrifice our children to a being that is NOT God?

We have played right into Satan’s hands. And we are, at best indifferent. At worst, a participant in our own damnation.

To the ones who work tirelessly, I pray the blessings of the living God on you. I pray the protection of the Holy Spirit on you. Do not tire of these things, as your reward in Heaven will be great. i ask that you pray for US, the called out ones who have traded our inheritance for a bowl of stew.

Forgive us God. I pray in the Name of JEsus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God.

David Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Faith

With God, All Things Are Possible

If you read yesterday’s blog, you discovered that I was driving home and working out how I will explain to my family that I was no longer employed. And that being dismissed from a Military base looks really bad on your resume. And I didn’t know what to do. God gave me an assignment. I am to write something every day and post it.

So, there I was, driving home, screwing up the courage to tell my wife and daughter that I had lost my job at the Base.

I felt that God had clearly given me an assignment. Write something every day. He knows me very well. He knows that if I just sit around between job applications, and twiddle my thumbs, my mind will go into all kinds of fear and condemnation. I am my own worst enemy sometimes, and I am worse than the Accuser when it comes to my flaws.

I also know that, if this was going to work, I need to be honest with myself and God. After all, there is no such thing as a secret when you deal with God. (It’s in His job description: Must Be All Knowing, All Seeing, and All Powerful).

It is a good thing God is patient. Anyone who has dealt with me, knows that you have to bring to the table a great deal of patience.

God is Good. All the time.

I wanted to go over a few things in this contract. Just to be clear. I started with Article 1, the first clause: I (David G. Perkins A.K.A. Sammy Snardfarkle) am to serve God by writing something every day. I am to keep looking for a job. But when I am not looking for work, I am to keep writing. So, I asked God if I had this part down, as in , I wanted to make sure I wasn’t interpreting something into HIS word that suited my world view. (That is really a no-no in God’s kingdom).

I received assurance that is exactly what I am to do. Start simply, and we can go from there. See, there is this trust issue. I have proven myself untrustworthy to God before. And it isn’t that He doesn’t trust His decisions, it’s that He wants to help me develop the patience for Love to refine me.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

God has a plan for me. And He will do with me what He will in His time, according to His agenda. And he will refine me as we go about accomplishing this agenda.

I had a huge problem on my mind, and I wanted to get it off my chest. Something seemed illogical, here. Anyone who knows me knows, I will sometimes argue till I am blue in the face. I will argue with a tree stump, just to try to convince the tree stump it is actually a banana. (I have lost most of those arguments. But, if you are ever in Brownwood, Texas, and you see a tree stump not acting all stumpish, it is because it actually thinks it is a banana. Just give it a wide berth, and it will not trip you up).

I have flaws. I don’t mean just one, or two. Ask any local Christian you find here, and they will be happy to regale you with a complete database and cross index of every flaw I have. It is ordered, both by topic, and numerically. I have actually been the happy recipient of this index, and I must say, it is extensive, and thorough. The unabridged edition is available at one of my relatives homes, but you will have to cover the printing and shipping costs, yourself.

I asked God about all these flaws that I am aware of, and that I have been cheerfully reminded of by His children. This is where God had to start the refining process in me.

He let me know, CLEARLY, that Satan is the accuser, and Satan’s children behave like their father. He let me know that His children are covered by His grace, and any flaws they have are His responsibility. Then He told me to decide, will I be an accuser, or will I be like Him, and demonstrate Grace and Mercy to all, because I will to be like Christ, who is the rightful Head of all things?

That made me stop and think. I confess I needed a LOT of His help on this one.

So I asked about this Grace thing. He reminded me it is something I definitely need, and need to give, because as I give it, I will have more of it. He explained that, in God’s economy, God pays compounded interest on everything you give away. You are not allowed to put it in your spiritual piggy bank and keep it all to yourself. If you do that, what little you have will be taken away and given to someone who knows how to use it wisely.

God then reminded me of this scripture:

“But this man (Jesus), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God…For by one offering He hath perfected them that are sanctified” Hebrews 10:12-14 KJV

So, I asked God this…”What about all my sin and flaws?” He asked me, is there any sin you have tried to hide from me? I thought about going back to that old, “Thou Knowest, O Lord” thing, but I had a feeling God was not in the mood for my sarcasm. So, I told Him: As my sin becomes apparent to me, I confess it to you, I repent of it, and I leave it at your feet, just as you have asked me to do.

He let me know that is right.

But that left the problem of all my flaws. So I asked about all that. He let me know that all humans have flaws. It is part of being fallen. But God, in his Grace, looks at me and sees the blood of His Son, and those flaws are hidden by that blood. So, being true to my nature, I argued, “But those pesky flaws are still there, aren’t they?”

God is Patient. God is Good. His Grace and Mercy endures forever: All the Time.

He pointed out that, yes, those flaws are there, but I do not need to worry about them. He explained that, since I actually belong to Him, through Jesus Christ, the flaws I still have are not counted against me, and that, as long as I am pursuing the will of God, and I become more like Christ, then the flaws will, by the nature and power of God, be removed. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, who doesn’t accuse you, but, through Grace and Mercy shows you how unimportant your flaws are, and that it is safe to let them go, so you CAN be more like Jesus.

I thought that had to be the best answer I had heard all day (I was still stinging from losing my job).

Then I asked him, what if I sin again, will you overlook that, too? He let me know that sin occurs when I stop and play with my flaws. Ever hear the saying, “If you play with that, you’ll go blind.”? In order to stop and play with your flaws, you have to stop looking at Christ, who is your goal. You become blind to the things of God, when you play with your flaws.

When you sin, you inevitably stop in your growth, until you deal with that sin. When you sin, you have to confess that sin, repent of it, and leave it at God’s feet. Grace covers all your flaws. Sin is a stopping point in your growth. You cannot go around sinning just because you belong to God. If you did, then you will eventually separate yourself from His fellowship (Again, as in my case).

God is Good. All the time. His Grace and Mercies endure forever.

Because I wanted to make sure I had this right, I asked God,

“SO, Jesus’ Blood Covers my flaws.”

(Did I mention God is PATIENT??)

He said “Yes”.

I said, “If I pay too much attention to my flaws, and not to the finished work of Christ, I am more likely to sin?”

He said, “Yes”

I asked, “If I sin, it is because I am fond of one of my flaws to the point that I give it more importance than I do my walk with Christ?”

He said , “Yes. And that is also a form of Idolatry, when you put anything as being more important than Me.”

I asked, “You, or Christ?”

God is ever patient. He protects children and fools with His patience.

He said, “We are one. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen Me.”

I had to gulp at that, because, as I have mentioned before, I have a LOT of flaws, and some of them are my favorite flaws. I confess I belong to God because of the Blood of Jesus Christ. He IS the Son of the Living God. He died for all my sin. He rose again to prove He IS who He said He is. If I have seen Christ, then I have seen God.

I asked Him, “What do I do?” I was still burdened by my flaws.

He said, “Follow Jesus, to be like Him. It is not something you can do on your own power, it is something that I empower you to do by the Holy Spirit, who now lives in you.” “If you will to follow, I will to lead you.” “If you do this, and as you do this, your flaws will become less important. When they come less important, they die of malnutrition, and fall off. By the time you reach the likeness of Jesus, you will be flawless.” “In the mean time, my Grace covers those flaws. When I look at you, I see my Beloved Son, who died for you.”

That was profound. I actually wept at the thought of the choice God made on my behalf. This can be a problem if you are careening down I-50 at nearly 100 miles per hour. Not that I would know anything about THAT….it’s just something I heard.

In His eyes, I am flawless. It doesn’t matter what my accusers say after all. I am His because I confess that Jesus is the only Begotten Son of God, and that Jesus died for my sin, and rose again from death to life. This makes me God’s own child.

But to make sure I don’t misunderstand, I asked God, “When I sin, and I don’t confess, what does that mean? “

He said, “You have placed a stumbling block in your own way. You will need to bring that stumbling block to me, and I will lead you to repentance, to confession, and delivery. I will remove that stumbling block. But if you leave that stumbling block in your way, you will eventually be tied to that place where you sinned, and will not be able to pursue Jesus with a pure heart. It will be where your growth stops. This is where my Mercy comes into play. I will not judge you immediately for this sin. I will be patient and wait for you to confess it, so we can move forward, where my Grace is already at work. “

I was speechless (Yes, God is STILL in the miracle-working business!).

I confessed to God that I am weak, and am in love with some of my flaws. I asked him how I can ever follow him, being so flawed.

He reminded me: “With God, all things are possible.”

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Faith

Go Ye Therefore….

This is not a plea for a job, OK? This is just me…I don’t know, getting things off my chest.

I heard another ‘No’ today on yet another job application. It get’s frustrating. I have gotten so discouraged. Here I am, intelligent, capable, WILLING, and not too proud to work. It seems that, when you are dismissed from a Military base, you pretty much are dismissed from a great many opportunities. I make no excuses. I was rightfully dismissed. Besides, the whole story would get more than me in trouble, so I am content to be in this position.

In my frustration, I decided to go for a walk. That didn’t help. I got home,. I was still grumpy, because taking a walk didn’t help. Besides, my conscience was bothering me. I am learning how to write. How to blog, how to journal, etc. They only writing I had ever done in my life was poetry, and seminary papers. And that, my friend was a very long time ago.

The day I got fired from the base, I felt disoriented. This is all I had been doing for the last two years. And this work was good, and I am good at it. As you surely know, by now, I have recently returned to the Lord. So, I prayed. I prayed HARD. What was I going to tell my wife…my daughter? Why was this happening? I had worked hard for my credentials. Now they were worthless.

As I prayed, I felt a strong sense of calm overcome me. That kept me from going into a panic. I slowed the car down (It is a 2 hour commute from the Base to Home). I didn’t realize I had been speeding.

By time I slowed the car down, I was actually so calm, I could actually smile. (That, in itself was rare for me). You hear about those “Charismatic Weirdo’s” who say they heard from God. I always rolled my eyes at that. I had to take all that eye rolling back. I mean, really, when you roll your eyes at God, HE could very well roll them right back at you, and you wouldn’t enjoy it.

I heard from God. I didn’t take the time to make sure I was not becoming a “Charismatic Weirdo”, or anything like that. I mean, I was really busy HEARING from God. It was the most wonderful, calming experience I had ever had.

He asked me what I’d rather do. I told Him, “You Know, O Lord!”

Sound familiar? What was that that Ezekiel said to God when God asked Zeke, ‘Do you think I can take these bones and bring them back to life?” or some thing like that. And Ezekiel, being the courageous one of God, said, “God Knows!”. He was hedging His bet. It wasn’t that Ezekiel DIDN’T think God couldn’t raise the bones in the desert back to life, it was just that, well, what if it is a trick question? Zeke knew God was testing him. But Zeke wasn’t sure he had studied hard enough for the test. So he said, “Thou knowest, O Lord” or something like that. Turns out, God raised the bones and made a legion of soldiers. That be a LOT of soldiers. Zeke suddenly realized the point. God can do what ever he pleases. And it pleases God to have Ezekiel serve Him. Where I come from, that is called a HUGE object lesson.

So, when God asked ME, “What would you rather do, Dave?” and I said “Thou Knowest, O Lord”, I swear I could see him glare at me like my third grade teacher did when I hit her with a huge spit wad. (I got out of a beating by telling her I just wanted to get her attention so I could tell her she was beautiful…I am going to burn in HELL, I KNOW!)

It was a cop out. I wasn’t used to the Almighty riding along in my car, and asking me questions, OK?!?

But I did get a chance to stop and think. Thank God God is merciful and abundant in Grace, too. I figured I was going to be the worlds largest Chicken Wing, or something like that.

I listed off several things. I used to play French Horn. But He said, you can practice at home, but no. Well, I used to play piano. Same answer. We went like this for about 60 miles. I gotta say, God is also very patient. My nick name isn’t Jack Ass for nothing, you know…go ask my ex wife and my curent wife. I got tired of playing this game. And I asked God to just tell me what it is HE wants me to do, and I will do it.

He asked me if I still had that old fire in the belly for writing. I looked askance at the empty passengers seat, and said, “You’re kidding, RIGHT?” I am sure that is why the trucker that saw me do this sped way the heck up. What would YOU think?

He said, “David, you want to serve me?” I said “Thou Knowest, O Lord!”, but then repented and said very affirmatively, “I’d rather serve you than be the richest man on the planet”, or something like that. There were a string of affirmations going on at the time. I mean, I hadn’t even acknowledges there is a God for 20 YEARS. And I really wanted to return to God’s fold, and serve. There is nothing better in this life than serving God.

He told me to write. Every day. Put it in a blog. You can only imagine what I thought about that. I have read my writing, it bored hell out of me. So, I was wondering if boring hell out of people was His way of getting people to run toward the scriptures, which are infinitely less boring than my writing. (Believe me, on this, I have read the Bible too).

He told me that, while HE finds the right place for me to work, I need to keep myself busy writing. He said he plans on using that gift as it develops. I asked min if he had ever looked at my writer’s portfolio? He looked askance at me…well, at least the empty passenger seat looked askance at me.

He said he would let me know what to write, and when. I have to say, that so far, he has done just that.

My last two blogs concerned Who Is The Church. I told God, Look, I can’t just go around shooting my mouth off like that, and not walk it, too!!! he let me know He will take care of that, but for now, keep writing.

Here’s the deal. I am not trying to be some great writer of great expose. I am just doing what I have been told. My hearts desire is, yes, to be good at writing, and writing about the things of God. And my burning desire is to be part of the next revival that needs to break out over the land. This planet is using the biggest steam shovel it can just to dig a hole to Hell.

I thought about what Jesus said to the Disciples just as He was about to ascent back into Heaven.

And Jesus came up to them and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given unto Me in Heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:18-20

And that is my hearts desire. To obey. But I know that God is right. I have been away for 20 years, and there is a trust issue. If I am faithful in this little thing of writing every day, He will be faithful to bless me for obeying.

I have been given a commission. You have also been given a commission. You do not need anyone’s permission to obey. Trust me when I tell you, your family will think you are crazy. Especially when you tell them that you had a chat with the Almighty. Take Jesus, for an example. Here he was, running around Israel, raising people from the dead, healing the sick, and telling everyone, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” And his very own family told people Jesus was crazy. That is your Bible Drill for the day. Find where that is written in the Gospels).

Until the day God calls me to higher things, I will obey. Even when I don’t feel like obeying, like today. I was discouraged. I didn’t even know what I was going to write about. But as I got to the library, God showed me what to say.

Just imagine what He has to say to you, if you’ll listen.

The world is dying, out there. Let’s be about it.

I love you.

David G. Perkins

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Faith

Who is the Church? – Part II

2 Timothy 3:1-5a. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness denying its power.”

If you glossed over the above scripture, please go back and read it for comprehension sake. I’ll wait.

Now, stop and look around you at the world we live in. Does the list of things in those verses sound like today’s society? You have read in the papers about all the incredibly evil things people are doing to each other. You have seen on the news (For what the news is worth) how evil is triumphed, and those who cry out for good are called evil.

Did you know that Paul was warning Timothy about the false preachers who, in the last days, infiltrate the churches? The warning was there because of the doctrines of the false servants of God would be borne out in the followers of the false teachings. That warning is: They will produce fruit after their own kind. He was not warning Timothy of the sinners who walked around outside the church, he was talking about the church itself.

The same thing happened to Israel.

Isaiah 5:20-23 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and, and valiant men at in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”

False doctrines and falsehoods were dragged into Israel, and condoned by the High Priests. They took bribes to look the other way, they were drunkards, they pronounced that the things of God are bad, and the things that are evil are good.

Just like in the book of Timothy.

These warnings and the subsequent judgments were not against people who do not know God. They are directed at people who claim they do. Israel was appointed by the Living God to be a light unto the world, that all nations will know there is a God, and He created them all. God’s efforts at redemption are illustrated all throughout the Bible.

In Timothy’s time, the doctrines of Grace, Mercy and Love, filling you by the Spirit of the Living God, based on the believers confession of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, was being diluted.

The people who diluted the Gospel were people who appeared pious, said all the right words, and smoothly talked their way into the congregation. Once they were in, they slowly diverted the Gospel of Jesus Christ for another Gospel. They turned people, slowly from the things of God, to other things. Just like in the days of Israel, when Isaiah gave all those “woes”.

Sinners are going to be sinners. They are the ones we, as Christians, are sent in to the world to reach, love, show mercy, grace, and heal their hurts. But the worst kind of sin, one that God does not tolerate, is when HIS congregation, His “called out” ones, sit idly by and let the congregation of deceivers turn people away from the simple gospel, to some sort of psychobabble, “New Aged”ideology.

Many churches, today, endorse evil, and say that if you cannot embrace that evil, you are a hater, and not a “child of God”. They say this because their view of God is that He is a kindly grandfather that endorses everything you do, simply because he “loves” you enough not to discipline you.

Every generation, every nation, every church, every tribe that has known the Living God, then thrown off His ways was destroyed.

Look around you. America is in deep trouble. Here we are within the worlds largest field, needing harvest, and we ourselves have no idea what to do about it. We are so afraid we will “offend” someone, that we do not tell the truth. We bow to laws that call for us to disobey God, hoping that God will see we are just trying to get along with every one. We fear for our jobs more than we fear disobeying God.

Jesus promised : “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels? Mark 8:35-38 CEV

The time for compromise has ended. Jesus assured us that we WILL offend people. That all people want to hear is what they want to hear, so they will feel good about the sin they commit.

If we genuinely want revival in the land, it starts with individual repentance. There is no such thing as “corporate” salvation. There is only individual salvation. The whole congregation will not be there for you when you see God on judgment day. If you will bend your knee, confess your sin, and let the Spirit of God remove all the lusts of your heart, and all your pride, and all your lying, and any other road blocks you have placed between you and a walk with the Lord, if you will repent, and be cleansed, you can be the one person who can start this revival in our land.

When you draw other “believers” to repentance, you will have a congregation of believers who have been cleaned again, and are willing to risk it all for the gospel. When you have that, my brothers and sisters, you have a real assembly of believers. If you have a real assembly of believers, forgiven, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, who was given to you when you first believed, and through the knowledge of the word, you will be a formidable force for the sake of the Gospel.

You can feel it in your bones that time is running out. The age of church complacency is over. The age of our willful ignorance os over. The age of denying the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is over. If you want to see all your lost friends and neighbors saved, let it begin in YOUR heart. Do business with God, and watch what business He will do through you.

You do not need permission from ANYONE to obey God. Jesus gave it to you the instant you believed in Him.

“If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; (even) if we are faithless, HE remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11b-13

In my lifetime I have seen Jesus kicked out of Schools, public discourse, and now the Military. In some towns and cities IN THIS COUNTRY, it is illegal to share the gospel. “The Religion of Peace” will cut your head off for sharing Jesus. Sharia law is creeping its’ way in to our laws, even as you read this.

When the congregation of believers gave up their right to do the will of Christ in their communities, then the government, who has proven to be evil to the very core, has taken them over. And when you dance with the devil, you way his price.

God destroys every nation that denounces Him. We, as a collective, have denounced God, or, out of fear for our own well being, have stood by and let it happen. I have repented of this sin, and challenge you, the individual, and the church, to do the same.

You can change what is about to befall this country when you can change your heart. And you can bring others to Christ while you can, and are willing.

Start with your church, because, if you have read the book of Revelation, you have read what Christ has to say to the Church at Laodicea. They are the archetype, we are the type. Time to get in shape and finish this fight.

I beg you, as a brother in Christ, to do what I had to do.

Repent, stop making excuses for not serving the Gospel, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Learn to pray again. Learn to read the scriptures again. Find others who have done this same thing. Be the light of the world. If you are saved, then you ARE the image of Christ. Change how you act, change how your churches act, and you will see a change in our beloved nation.

Nothing short of an act of God can turn our country around.

We are out of time, so let’s be about it.

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Faith

The Grace of God – Part II

Editorial View Point:

Someone asked me why my posts are SO long. There is a specific group I am targeting. They like the information I provide. If you are not one of them, I am grateful that you work your way through my posts. I am working at developing several styles to convey Biblical truths. I suppose I could give you those “FB” style one liners, or even a daily devotional style of writing. And I am working on that. But when the subject is as important as the one below, I would rather include something that will bore you, the educated Christian, than leave out information that someone seriously desiring to hear God might miss. For that, I make no apologies. I simply write about what I, myself, had to go through to understand the difference between a religion and a relationship to God.

INTRODUCTION:

I had a very interesting, and fulfilling, conversation with a brother in the lord, last night (Thank-You, Casey).

The subject was over what I had written in my post, “The Grace of God”. That post dealt with how Satan tries to trip you up, and how God carries you through this experience. My brother, Casey, correctly pointed out the dangers of the belief that God’s grace is like a giant bandage to all sins you will commit. That you may mistakenly fall under the same error that the Romans did, that it is OK if you sin because God has already covered that sin.

The Grace of God – Part II will cover this case. This post is also in two parts. In Part A, I will cover what God does with your sin if you are an unbeliever, and how he offers us hope through Christ. This part is the cornerstone of what it means to belong to God through Jesus Christ.

The second part of this post deals with what to do about sin AFTER you are saved, and what the believer should do about specific sins. Thank you for reading it all the way through, and please, leave a comment. I am very interested in your opinions.

Part A

SIN and sins – Or what was the whole Jesus thing for, in the first place?

In my post, “The Grace of God”, I described what happened in the first place to separate Humans from the face to face presence of God. We were given free will, because God didn’t make a bunch of robots. The Angels have free will, which is why we had the wars of the angels in the first place. God gave Humans free will because he literally wants only people who want to hang out with him to be with him. The down side of our having this free will is, we bought the lie that Satan gave us, and ended up just as condemned as Satan. Satan’s eternal abode will be Hell. This is the second death. SIN brought real death, real decay, and real evil into this Earth. The eternal covenant God has with ALL of his creation is that God will not tolerate Sin in His presence. It isn’t like he is allergic to it. It is more like, God is HOLY and will only have HOLINESS around His home, which is in the highest heaven. SIN = death. GOD is life. You can look at world history to see how all that turned out.

We are born separated from God. While you are an unaccountable child, you live in a kind of grace. When you reach the age of accountability,then all bets are off.

So, now is the right time to ask “WHO really needs salvation, anyway?”

Short Answer: Humans.

All the World Guilty

…as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;

There is none who understands,

There is none who seeks for God;

All have turned aside, together they have become useless;

There is none who does good,

There is not even one.”

Romans 3:10 – 12 NASB

and

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 NASB

You can be “good”, you can give to every charity you can imagine, you can live in a way that the worst thing you ever did was steal one extra cookie when you were 4. But, SIN, still lives in you. You know this is true when you ask yourself, how much do I hate, how angry do I get over things, how many times have I coveted, how many times have I told a lie, how many times have I heard about someone getting killed, and thought to myself , “That bastard deserved it!”. These are evidences of SIN. The Bible makes it crystal clear that all Humans are born in sin, and live a life separated from God. You can feel it in your heart. Like something is missing, or you get a serious longing in your heart for a love that you cannot define. You spend your entire life trying to fill that gap in your heart, and never reach it. You turn to drugs, alcohol, sex, or whatever, but nothing can fill that hole that exists, that yearning for peace that you crave. You can feel it.

We are all born separated from God.

So, now is the right time to ask “WHY do we really need salvation?”

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 NASB

and

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ” John 3:16 NASB

Because original SIN separated Humans from God for all eternity. God loves you, but His own law is “For the wages of SIN is death”. The only way Humans can receive forgiveness was that a PERFECT Human had to voluntarily and willingly die in your place for your sin. After the fall of all mankind in the garden of Eden, there were no perfect Humans. God is all-powerful and sovereign. In His own might, HE came to earth in the form of a man. His name was Yeshua (Jesus). Jesus voluntarily filled the will of God the Father, and died in your place for all the SIN in the world. He did this out of His enormous love for you. Jesus rose himself from death in order to prove He had the Authority to call himself the “Son of God”. You need salvation because you are born in sin. You receive eternal life with God if you accept this FREE GIFT of Jesus dying in your place. You have the hope of eternal life after your body dies. Jesus proved this by His resurrection from the dead.

JESUS IS HOW GOD PROVIDED SALVATION

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8 NASB

How Do We Receive this Salvation??

“…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10 NASB

and

“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

When you believe in your heart that Jesus died in your place for your sin, and confess with your mouth (Say it out loud), you are saved from eternal death. You have been rejoined to fellowship with the Living God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Holy Spirit will come to you, and will guide you. You have peace with God, now. You are no longer His enemy, as Satan still is, but you are now, eternally, God’s own beloved child.

Our Victory in Christ

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” Romans 5:1 NASB

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

You have admitted that your SIN separates you from God. You understand that as a sinner, you deserved eternal separation from God (This is the second death). You believe that Jesus Christ died in your place, on the cross, to free you from the curse of SIN and death (The second death). You have repented by turning from your old life of sin to a new life in Christ. And you have received, through FAITH in Jesus Christ, His free gift of Salvation.

OK, But what about all the sin I keep committing???

I am glad you asked. I will tell you. Jesus promised you that He will send the Holy Spirit to you.

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. “ John 14:16 NASB (Words of Jesus are in red).

and

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21 NASB

and

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:23-26 NASB

Once you are sealed in forgiveness by the Blood of Jesus Christ, you will not be able to be removed from His hand. But you will still be able to be tempted by your old habits, and by Satan. As long as you are on this Earth, that is how it is. We are called to be IN the Earth, not OF the Earth. We are still here after we were saved so that we can tell others how it is we have eternal life, how it is we have such joy in our hearts, how it is that we suddenly are at peace.

Now that you are saved, God’s grace covers all your sin, past, present and future. THAT IS TRUE! There is a heresy being taught today, that was being taught in the Apostle Paul’s day. The heresy teaches that you can sin, and it will be covered by God’s grace, so don’t worry about it. This doctrine is a religious point of view that God never allowed for.

The truth of the matter is that God’s grace covered all your sin from the foundation of the world. But that is not a license to sin, in order that God’s grace can be demonstrated:

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? ” Romans 6:1 NASB

and

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. ” Galatians 2:20 NASB

and

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:20

and

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “ John 15:4-5 NASB

The evidence of your salvation will be revealed in your life. If you abide in Christ, you will grow to be like Christ. Yes, because you are human, you will slip and fall, occasionally. That is why Jesus promised you the Holy Spirit, so that when you trip up, the Spirit of God will LOVINGLY convict you, and you will be led to repent, and you will have learned from that lesson, and will grow to be like Christ.

Any unconfessed sin is a barrier YOU place between YOU and God. Has God covered it? In his sovereignty and foreknowledge of you, he knew you would sin. In His grace, he allows that sin. In His mercy, He forgives that sin. But it is not a license to continue in sin. Jesus pointed out that if you continue to live in sin, you are not His. If you ABIDE (A word that means to move in with, or literally “Pitch your Tent”, establish your dwelling with), then you have willingly given up YOUR own way to pursue the way of Christ. We are to become like Christ. This takes a daily effort. This takes you intentionally laying aside YOUR will in the pursuit of the will of God for you.

God’s grace is not a license to sin. It is the covering God gives you so that when the Spirit of God convicts you, you will be able to go to God and confess, and repent, and be restored. If you are intending to be like Christ, and His Spirit has filled you, then you will not WANT to sin.

Let’s put it this way: If you are still living a life of sin, chances are you have either never been saved, or you have intentionally chosen NOT to walk in a life to be like Christ.

Grace is not a license to sin, it is your opportunity to repent when you do.

Go and sin no more.

Faith

I Renamed My Lawnmower

I am not playing the sympathy card, here, but I have really bad lung problems.

The problem is SO bad that if the local humidity gets above 50%, I start having problems breathing. When it gets above 60%, I am virtually a prisoner in my own home. My lungs are bad because of all the times I have had pneumonia, and have been exposed to really corrosive chemicals.

To make matters worse, I am allergic to almost every thing that exists in Missouri. I live in Missouri. If I were sitting in my favorite cafe, in the mountains of Montana, sipping a good hot tea, and my wonderful wife, Sandy, were to sit down next to me, holding a package just shipped up from Missouri, I would probably have a collapsed lung, right there. I hope God smiles on me soon and allows me to move to the Mountains. I can breathe there, and enjoy the great outdoors with no hindrances.

I think I am allergic as a judgement. See, I used to make fun of my First Wife (Let’s call her Cinnamon). She has allergies that can, sometimes, be pretty bad. I used to tease her incessantly. Not only was that an unkind act, in and of itself, and I am genuinely sorry for that, but it was cruel. This is when I first realized that “You reap what you sew.”

So, here I am, in Missouri, allergic to every organic object that exists, and it is hot and very humid here. Grass grows in my yard. It wouldn’t be a problem if I could hire Skippy McDork to come out and mow my lawn, but I cannot. SO, I mow the yard.

Today, it is hot and humid. I can barely breathe. So I get really exhausted pretty fast. When it is this bad, I fade between seeing and graying out. I wanted to get this over with.

But, as I mowed, I was able to overcome these obstacles. And I remembered:

“The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.” Psalm 118:14

Remembering that verse lifted my heart, and I swear I felt a cool breeze go right through me. It felt good, and I kept mowing.

As I got fatigued, I noticed that I had left a few patches. I was tired, and didn’t feel like going back for the patches I missed.

Then I remembered:

“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” Luke 15:4

and THAT made me think of Christ dragging his beam to the hill of Golgotha. He was tired beyond reason. He had been beaten nearly to death. Because HE was a workman worthy of His hire, he completed all the things God set before him to do.

And I also remembered that God intends us to harvest until he returns, and the even the corners will be harvested.

So, I did the whole Job. I know mowing isn’t one of the “High Spiritual Callings” but if I am to believe the word of God, I need to develop the habit of practicing it. And the word says: “And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” Colossians 3:23

Jesus didn’t die for only a few of our sins. He died for all of them. He didn’t cut corners. He drank deep of the cup God had served Him.

“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.”” Revelation 14:14-16

The fields are ripe for the harvest. I was reminded that, because of the Grace of God, I am still here to reap. I remembered all this while I mowed and wanted to quit. When we are faithful in these little things, God will trust you with bigger ones. I have only recently returned to God, through Jesus Christ, but I have no intention of getting it wrong this time.

I have renamed my Mower “Grace” so every time I mow, and struggle to breathe, and get fatigued, and want to lay down and die, I will remember why I am still here.

“To live is Christ, to die is gain.” – The Apostle Paul

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Faith

The Grace of God

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. Is. 53:4-6 NASB http://www.blueletterbible.org

I first learned of the time gap between the 1st and 2nd verses of Genesis 1 from a Messianic Jew, a former Rabi from Israel. He was from the “School of the Prophets” group. They delved deep into the mysteries of the Scriptures. They knew of the “Bible Code” long before it was a popular topic. They knew things about the Bible that even other Rabin did not know. And that takes me back to the gap between the 1st and 2nd verse in Genesis 1. Proving that fact is not the purpose of this writing, but you can get a decent understanding of that gap here: http://custance.org/Library/Volume6/Part_III/Introduction.html.

The whole point of my bringing this up is to tell you that a many events occurred between those two verses. One of those things was the Wars of the Angels in Heaven. Two thirds of the Angels of God rebelled against God. Very long story short, they lost the war. Their leader, Lucifer, was cast out of Heaven. Lucifer is known by many names, but Satan is the name we know him by. As a noun, Satan means “Adversary, enemy, etc”, as a verb, it is “Accuser”.

Satan knows what his future will bring. He knows his day s are numbered. Because he has been disconnected from God his mind is given completely over to sin and evil. He has become incapable of any holy thought, act of righteousness, or discernment. Satan believes he stands a chance of winning the final battle.

In between the Angelic Wars and now, Satan managed to talk Human Souls into joining him in eternal damnation. Satan is the one who kills, steals and destroys. Satan will tempt you. That is half of what this post is about. The other half is dedicated to the Grace of God.

Satan the Tempter:

Satan will tempt you using the word of God.

Jesus had been in the wilderness for 40 days. He was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. “Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.” Luke 4:2

And he (Satan) brought him (Jesus) to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Satan, as the destroyer knew that, if he could get Jesus to succumb to temptation, then the show was over for all of us. He, knowing what his fate is, wants company in his misery. Jesus was weakened by his trials in the desert. If he could get Jesus to fail, there would be no hope for the redemption of mankind to God. There is a reason it is called Temptation. If it were easy to say ‘No’, it wouldn’t really be tempting, would it?

Jesus, as tired and hungry as he was, did the one thing he could do and not blow it. He answered Satan with the Word of God. He didn’t reason, justify, waffle, bargain, or debate. He fell back to a position that shows the authority of the scriptures when they are used properly.

And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Luke 4:12

Satan Will Tempt You Over What God Actually Said

Here is where we learn to know AND understand the words of God. Horrible things have been done on this planet simply because people do not know and understand what God said and meant. Jesus never subjugated women, yet many faiths treat women like second class citizens. Many people think the Bible actually said, “God helps those that help themselves.” Misunderstanding the intent of the Word, or blatantly not knowing it will lead you into a world of deep doo-doo.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Gen 3:1-3 KJV

Here, Satan used doubt as a tool to get Eve to wonder if what she thought she heard was actually what she heard. In response, Eve not only used God’s word to argue with Satan, but added to what God said. Probably to underscore her point. Satan’s goal is, and always has been to separate us from God. Have you ever told someone something that someone else said to you, and the person you said it to said, “REALLY?, He said that?” Because you might be wrong, you begin to entertain the idea that you might be wrong. Maybe you misunderstood what was said, or what that someone meant to convey by saying it. When doubt clouds your judgement between right and wrong, you have opened your armor against temptation. Once you are vulnerable, it is easier to tempt you. The lesson here is to what God said and what He MEANT when He said it, and what you should do in the light of it being said.

KNOW THE WORD INSIDE AND OUT!

SATAN THE ACCUSER

Along with being the adversary, Satan loves to accuse us. If he can make a case against you, then he thinks he wins. The case doesn’t even have to be true, as Satan is not acquainted with the truth. It just has to be convincing.

SATAN WILL ACCUSE YOU TO GOD.

In the book of Job, we see that Satan was in the throne room of God. Satan waited in line so he can accuse someone to God. In this case, God, knowing what Satan was up to, offered Job as an example of one of his children. Immediately, Satan accused Job to God and said that if God hadn’t shown Job such favor, Job would just abandon his faith, and curse God to God’s face.

Satan will go to the Living God and accuse you every time you trip up. He gets his kicks doing this. He believes that he is rubbing God’s children’s failures in God’s face.

SATAN WILL ACCUSE GOD TO YOU

Sometime we mess up. We sin. And when we do, our conscience starts eating at us. We pray and confess our sin, and repent of it. But Satan will come along in an effort to rob you of your joy, and tell you, “God is mad at you for what you did. What a loser you are to God. You blew it with the Big Guy this time.” Satan will rob you of your joy if you give him one second to make his case to you. There is a way to deal with this, and I will show you in a minute.

SATAN WILL ACCUSE YOU TO YOURSELF

When we mess up, and we know we have messed up, Satan loves to accuse you to yourself so that you will forget to go to God for confession and repentance and forgiveness. He wants to distract you, so you will be too confused and full of self loathing to do the right thing. He may say things like, “You know what it says in the Book, “The wages of sin is death.”, you might as well give up. You will never be good enough for God. You can’t go ten minutes with out tripping up. Man, you call yourself a Christian.” If he can get your eyes off the redemptive work of Jesus, he can bring you down to a pit of misery and personal hell. If you stay there, you may eventually lose your faith altogether. This is the goal of Satan as the accuser. To separate you from God.

WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY ABOUT YOU

THE ASSURANCE OF GOD’S GRACE

You have the assurance of God’s Grace when you repent. You have this assurance because you have accepted that Jesus died on the cross in your place for all your sin, past present and future. You are saved because of His death and resurrection. When Jesus died on the cross, the eternal covenant was sealed. Satan was defeated, and lost the right to call Earth his home, and human souls his own. Jesus took the keys of hell away from Satan for all eternity.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3 :23-26 NASB

When you go to God, you have the assurance that God will blot out your transgressions for the sake of the blood of Christ that covers you, and makes you God’s own beloved child.

“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25

Because of this great gift of God’s grace, through Jesus Christ you can say:

“I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10 NASB

GOD CHOOSES TO FORGET YOUR TRANSGRESSION

Because of your faith in Jesus Christ, and because you turned to God, confessed your sin, repented of it in your heart, and laid it at His feet, you can say: “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12 NASB

Hanging on to your unconfessed sin will only weaken your faith, and open a door for the tempter to come in and twist your heart even more. You have a loving God who is ever ready, and joyfully willing to forgive you. You are His own precious one of you have accepted the free gift offered through Jesus Christ. There is no other place to go to know real redemption and forgiveness of sin. Unconfessed sin is a stumbling block to your growth in the Lord.

Have no fear. Come to His throne with thanks giving and know he will forgive you. You will leave the Throne Room knowing you are forgiven. Be sure and leave that burden at his feet. He will remove it from before Himself, and not count it as transgression against him. You are free of this.

“Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7: 18-19 NASB

His desire is that you remain His child. Because of the blood of Christ, you are saved. When he sees you, he sees the mark of Jesus on you, and he declares his everlasting love for you.

“Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” “For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.” Isaiah 38:17-18 NASB

HERE’S WHY

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 NASB

Satan thought he could take all of Humanity with him when he tempted Adam and Eve. Like I said, he was deluded because he was incapable of reasoning out that he was evil and defeated. The contract was that a perfect human had to be sacrificed, voluntarily, for the sake of all mankind. There were no perfect humans on earth. None. But God foresaw all this from the beginning, and became human. He came here in the form of Jesus. The rightful heir to the throne, and a rightful rabbi of the house of Levi. Jesus was on record of being a priest-king. And he lived without sin among us. He came here that we will have life. He came here for the express purpose of being that sacrifice that would satisfy all of Heavenly law. He became the fulfillment of the law, when he died on the cross, and rose himself up again, by his own authority. He did this to prove He has the right to be called the Son of God.

“God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” II Corinthians 5:21 NASB

Satan has no hold over you. He has no power over you, unless you give it to him. You are the precious child of God. Nothing can remove you from God once you are His child. You become His child when you believe with all your heart that Jesus IS the Son of God, died for your sins, and rose again on the 3rd day.

Satan will try to tempt you, deceive you and accuse you in order that you may stumble. Satan will tempt you with things you like. Satan will tempt you with things that God means to give you anyway. When Satan tried to tempt Jesus to bow before him, so that all the kingdoms of the earth could be His, Satan was trying to tempt Jesus with what God was going to give Him any way.

By the Authority given to Jesus, you are saved if you believe. You are safe from temptation if you know the word for what it actually says and actually means. By the authority given to you by Jesus Christ, you are Christs representative while you still live. Go boldly before the throne and be free of the things that encumber you. What Satan tries to take your joy away, do what the angels did, and say, “The Lord Rebuke You”.

Satan has no power over you at all, unless you give him YOUR power.

Go, and sin no more.

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More on The Ethics of Hell (What Makes Us Unworthy of Christ)

“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”16:7b NASB

from http://www.blueletterbible.org/

C.S. Lewis is one of my most favorite Authors. In his great work, “Mere Christianity“, Lewis had this to say about ethics:

All quotes are from “Mere Christianity”:

“One man may be so placed that his anger sheds the blood of thousands and another so placed that however angry he gets he will only be laughed at. But the little mark on the soul may be much the same in both. Each has done something to himself which, until he repents, will make it harder for him to keep out of the rage next time he is tempted, and will make the rage worse when he does fall into it. Each of them, if he seriously turns to God, can have that twist in the central man straightened out again; each is, in the long run, doomed if he will not. The bigness or smallness of the thing, seen from outside, is not what really matters.”

“Good people know about both good and evil. Bad people do not know about either.”

“While the rule of chastity is the same for all Christians at all times, the rule of propriety changes. A girl in the Pacific Islands wearing hardly any clothes and a Victorian lady completely covered in clothes might both be equally ‘modest’; proper or decent, according to the standards of their own societies; and both, for all we could tell by their dress, might be equally chaste (or equally unchaste).

It all boils down to what is in our hearts.

It doesn’t matter what others think about what is in our hearts, although most of us crave the adoration and approval of some one.

In fact, outward appearances can be quite deceiving. Planned Parenthood is a very good example. They claim to offer medical services for females, that, without their help, all females would be deprived of. The intent of the founder of Planned Parenthood was that all “undesirable races and people” be either eliminated or reduced to manageable numbers. It was the writings of that founder that inspired Hitler. He wrote about it in his own diseased journals. Both Planned Parenthood and Hitler have lived up to the intent of their desires.

Now, that may be an extreme case of the ethics of Hell. But let that serve as a good example.

As Christians, we are to be more like Christ. As we grow in the knowledge of Jesus, and the Spirit of God works in you, to become more Christ Like, you will find that the decisions you make are more eternal than you think.

I will give you another example. Say you, as a Christian, run across a person in genuine need. It doesn’t matter what that need is, you fill in the blanks. I actually heard a brother in the Lord say, “I would have helped that person, but I don’t know but that God may be putting that person through that thing in order to grow that person up.”

What that brother failed to realize, as he was doing the wrong thing for the right reason, is; Maybe God put that person in YOUR life just to see what YOU would do, and in failing to do that, whatever act of Grace, or Mercy you should have done, you yourself missed out on the growth, the blessing, the grace and the mercy for yourself. None of us, unless God has spoken directly to you about a person, knows what is really going on with someone. But when God places them in our path, we are to act toward them just as we would want God to act toward us. Let us stop making excuses for our unfaithfulness.

So you will know, and we will all be accountable for our gifts of knowledge, I am going to spell out some of the “Ethics of Hell”.

1. Doing the wrong thing. example: Orphaned children in Puerto Rico are being rounded up daily, and used as sex slaves. After they are used up in that trade, they are taken out to the edges of town and used as target practice for criminals, gangs, and some police officers, and their police dogs. God forgive me and all the rest of us who know this and do nothing about it. God make us able to do something about it.

2. Doing the wrong thing for the right reason. example: I see someone in need, but I do not have the resources to meet that need. Instead of asking for God’s provision for that person, or consulting someone who is in a better position to help, you steal something and give it to them, believing God will look the other way. That is the Robin Hood stuff that our current Government is made of. If you do harm to one person in order to do good for another, you have still been part of the harm.

3. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason. example: You know of a family in need. You meet that need, but not in the way that your right hand does not know what your left hand is doing. You meet that need simply so others will recognize how “spiritual and Christian” you are. Publicity is probably not your only motive, either. You probably are slowly positioning yourself so that enough people will think highly enough of you so you can impose your personal agenda on others. God has His own agenda, and doesn’t need yours.

4. Doing Nothing at all. example – Take any of the examples above, and do nothing at all about it. Don’t pray about it, don’t help, don’t get involved. don’t feel compassion for others. Don’t feel mercy or grace. I guarantee, if you do this, you will get from God exactly what you have put into it.

You don’t need anyone’s permission to obey God, and do the right thing. You WILL be laughed at, despised, called names, and people will actually try to stop you, some will even be “Christians” and other well-intentioned dragons.

Do it any way. Cross that street. Give to that person in need. Stand between evil and the ones who will commit that evil. The reason you weren’t raptured the day you got saved is that God is not done with your NEW LIFE. It will be better for you to do this and lose everything than to commit the ethics of hell and save your own skin.

The simple fact of my writing this means I will be put to the test. If you have actually read this far, then you are also accountable. Just be careful of your intentions. Whatever you do, what ever you don’t do, say, or think (As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he) know that God is seeing your INTENTION. Whatever it is you intend, it will also be done to you, in the same measure. This is why we are not to worry about what others will think of us.

We are free, by the Blood of Jesus Christ to be called the sons and daughters of God. We have been given the authority of Jesus to do what Jesus has commanded all of us to do.

Let’s be about it.

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Do You Love Me? (The Concentric Circles of Love)

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” John 21:15

This is for all of us who are looking for home. This is for all of us who have been rejected and condemned by the church. This is for you who, in one form or another, walked in service to Christ, but did something stupid, and have fallen out of relationship to Him. This is for those of us who have, for a season, felt the loss when God let you have your way, cut the moorings from his shore, and your ship drifted, alone, lost at sea.

You miss the joy of your salvation. You miss the sweet fellowship you had in your Bible studies, worship, and prayers. You miss the embrace and fellowship of other, like-minded, servants of Christ.

You have been shunned by friends, family, and strangers. You think, “But they don’t know what is in my heart!” No, they don’t, and chances are, they never will. You have to accept some realities, and it is not easy.

Is the joy of your salvation an echo of things past? Is the sweet embrace of the Holy Spirit now just an ache of longing?

Is the weight of your sin so unbearable that sometimes, you wonder if people are right about you, that you cannot be redeemed, that you are better off dead, that you would do more people a favor if you just went away?

I have good news for you. You are wrong. People are wrong. And God is waiting with His arms outstretched, waiting with all his heart for you to come home.

I can tell you this because I have just gone through this.

There was a time in Peter’s life that he swore to Jesus “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” (Mat 26:33) Jesus told Peter, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” (Matt 26:34)

Peter was a strong and courageous, if not a bit hot headed, man. The thought of denying Jesus never occurred to him. He rested in his own strength to stand with Christ when things really hit the fan.

But when they did, Peter denied Christ three times before the rooster crowed.

“And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, “Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.” Matt 26:75

Now, you weren’t at the arrest and trial of Christ, AND you are not Peter. But, you were saved, and you were serving. And you did something that separated you from God’s loving fellowship. You suddenly understood what the first part of the verse in Isa 54:7 meant: “For a small moment have I forsaken thee;” and now you want to have the rest of that verse apply to you as well: “but with great mercies will I gather thee.”

After my fall from God, I went out and wept bitterly. I could feel His absence as loudly as a clap of thunder. I know it is not conventional theology to say that for a season God will separate Himself from you, but He will, and does as He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

I used to tell my wife that I want to return to His fellowship, but I have no way of knowing how to get back to Him. The good news, as you will eventually discover, is that you have not even left the palm of His hand. He has simply left you to your own devices for a season.

Eventually, and my wife will attest to this, eventually, if returning is your hearts true yearning and intent, then you will have the support of the entire Kingdom of Heaven.

CIRCLE 1: Draw a circle around yourself (Not really, but in your mind). Include in that circle everything that is currently you. You have to be totally honest, here. Include all that you perceive is good and from God, and in a separate pile, include all you have said, or done, that is not of God. You will know what those things are by the way they reveal your relationship to God. Everything you do either accepts Christ as your Lord, or it rejects Christ as Lord. Even though the hurt you have caused was to others, as well, in the end, it is a behavior that ultimately denies Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

God may do you like He did me, and have me pick up every little behavior that denied Him, and address each one on an individual basis. But I am, and you can ask my wife, a Jack Ass. It takes me longer to do things because I am stubborn.

Eventually, God will show you that, because you have confessed your sin, He has dealt with them. He promises us all that He has thrown them as far away as the East is from the West. That he has trampled them underfoot, and remembers them no more. That He has cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. Jesus died for ALL of our sin, past, present and future. That is not a license to sin, it is the permission to forgive yourself if you have repented.

Accept this forgiveness, and forgive yourself. Your judgment is not greater than God’s. If He has forgiven you, then you are forgiven, PERIOD. This may take time, or it might be instant. In the end, you will know the joy of your salvation. There is no sin you can commit that is so bad that God will not forgive you, if it is in your heart to repent. All sin is a denial of Christs work on the cross. Be forgiven. You will be free.

CIRCLE 2: Now, draw a larger circle around that first circle. The first circle represents God dealing with you, and you doing business with God.

Circle 2 contains all the people your sin has directly affected.

You are forgiven, but not forgotten. You have hurt people you love. You must lay your offering at the alter and seek forgiveness for all the hurt you have done. This is an ongoing process, and may not be able to be accomplished overnight. But it is necessary. And it is good, albeit a hard thing to do. You have to overcome your fear of rejection, your fear of not being taken seriously, and possible the reality that you may not be forgiven. There really is nothing you can do about that, but you must, with all Godly intention, seek forgiveness for the harm you have done. Whatever happens from your effort, God will show you how it is a blessing. Some loss happens, but if you stand in your faith, God will see it through. Many times, healing happens. And it will be good, and fruitful for both of you.

CIRCLE 3: These are the people that you did not sin against, but are really angry because you have hurt someone thy love when you sinned. Listen closely. You still have to do business with them. You have to obey God in this. Forgive their hatred and the terrible, and hurtful things they have said to you and about you. And seek their forgiveness. It would help a lot if the person or persons in the second circle would go with you, and help smooth things over, so that they can see that a genuine change has happened in your heart.

They will either accept that you are redeemed, or not. They will either forgive you or not. You do not know the hearts of men (or women), but God does. He knows where they are in their walk, you don’t. He knows where they need work, you don’t, and unless God uses you to affect their changes, you have no business interfering with the work God is doing in their lives. BUT, you do get to love them. You do get to pray with them and for them.

Take care of this business. Don’t worry about the outcomes. Your walk doesn’t depend on how people in the second and third circle treat you, what they say about you, or if they believe you. Your walk depends ONLY on your obedience to God. He has called you to return to His embrace. He has cleansed you of your sin. He has demonstrated His overwhelming love for you.

Peter denied Christ three times. In order to restore Peter, Jesus asked Peter, three times, if Peter loved him. This sealed Peter in his love for Christ. Peter eventually did die for the sake of the Gospel.

This leads to

CIRCLE 4: Now you have done all you can to be redeemed to God, your beloved friends and loved ones, and the people who were affected by your behavior.

YOU ARE FREE!

Be free to serve. Be recklessly abandoned to Christ and His service for you. This is the 4th circle. Jesus said:

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matt 28:20

Now you feel his call. You do not need anyone’s permission to obey. Lay your hindrances at God’s feet, and He will clear the way for you to serve Christ. It IS your call, and God’s gift is without repentance.

Go, be about it.

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Faith

Forgiveness, the Test of Authenticity

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil [souls][humans]. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Luke 6: 35 – 37 NASB

Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you. For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.. Eccl 7:21 – 22 NASB

SCRIPTURES COPIED FROM: http://www.blueletterbible.org/

THIS ONE IS PERSONAL. I HAVE CHOSEN TO EXPOSE MYSELF IN THIS REGARD SIMPLY BECAUSE MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME ALREADY KNOW MUCH THESE EVENTS. I AM NOT LOOKING FOR YOUR PITY. I WANT TO USE THIS VERY PERSONAL EVENT TO SHOW YOU HOW I FIRST LEARNED FORGIVENESS.

IT IS TO THEM, THE WELL INTENTIONED DRAGONS, THAT I DEDICATE THIS INSTALLMENT ON FORGIVENESS. I REALLY LOVE YOU, HONESTLY, COMPLETELY. AND IN THE NAME OF JESUS, I LOVE YOU.

I am going to share with you a special case under the heading of Forgiveness. It is a case that I struggle with. To forgive and to be forgiven. This is about accepting God‘s forgiveness, yet dealing with the unforgiving souls who insist that you are still damaged goods, in spite of what God has done. In a later installment (Which I have not decided if I will post) I will deal with an extreme case of hatred, and where forgiveness comes into the picture.

20 years ago, God told me that my first marriage was going to end. I knew a week before it happened that it was coming. God let me know in no uncertain terms that, if I will cling to Him during this storm, He would sustain me, restore me, and make me stronger in the Lord than I could imagine. The clouds were in the sky, but the storm had not hit, yet.

Although I could see this storm coming, I had not prepared my heart for the intensity of the storm. And it was intense. The year leading up to this storm, I had really begun to stray from God, through various acts of self righteousness. I had become a Pharisee of the first order. God had given me the privilege of seeing Moslems come to Christ in my ministry. God had given me the privilege of seeing witches, satanists, and gang members come to the Lord. He used me as His pen to draw the picture of salvation. But in my pride and arrogance, I felt I could take it from there, and pretty much excluded God from His work in me. I had stopped bible reading and prayer. I began to allow the little foxes of sin and pride into my garden. Eventually, I was screwing up my life, and didn’t understand it was my fault.

Then the storm hit.

My heart was not prepared for it, even though God had let me know in very clear terms it was coming. The right thing for me to do would have been to repent of my sin, humble myself before the Lord, seek His forgiveness, and cling to Him for all I was worth. But because I didn’t heed God’s warning, I was not able to withstand the unbearable intensity of losing my wife.

Even then I had the opportunity to repent and turn to God. I failed that test, too. I was letting my confusion, frustration and anger do my thinking. I was allowed to have my way, and I was left to my own devices. And I fell into even more sin than I could imagine was possible.

I left behind a trail of destruction.

Later on, I met my current wife. I was still damaged goods. The day I met her, the very instant I saw her, I had a vision of things to come. I saw us married, and I saw my child. I actually saw Hannah, years before she was born. (There is more to that, and remind me to tell it to you).

What I saw scared me so badly, I ran away from her and hid for 6 weeks. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t back down from anything. But THIS vision truly horrified me. See, I knew deep in my soul that I had not done business with God. I had a lot of repentance to do. I had a lot of forgiveness to seek and give. I was seriously damaged goods.

Eventually, I screwed up my courage and called her, and we dated and eventually got married. A year later, Hannah was born.

But I still lived in rebellion to God. By this time, I genuinely began to crave that sweet relationship with God, but I wanted that relationship on my terms. I didn’t want to go through the very hard time of repentance. And I had some repenting to do.

Eventually, I let sin get the best of me again. It was one of the big ones, and it caused a great deal of hurt in my marriage.

The details are none of your business. But I sinned. And I never sin in half measures.

The damage was bad. Family on both side of the fence let me know in no uncertain terms what a schmuck I was. Some even told me I would be better off dead. Some cursed me to my face, and spared no expense telling everyone and everything that would listen what an incredible sin I had committed. It affected my ability to make friends, it affected my ability to get a job (I live in a small town). I was given the scarlet letter. In the view of these well meaning dragons, I was irredeemable, and there will be no forgiveness to be had. People told me to my face that they want me to leave, go away, never return, to do my wife a favor and disappear. I genuinely got to see the dark side of the children of God.

Eventually, people I had never known would confront me about this sin. I learned that, not only do religious people love to hate, but they love to gossip, too.

I had begun to crave the presence of God in my life, and I wanted so bad to have a prayer partner. While I was at work, one day, the guy that delivers our welding gases drove up. He was very nice, very friendly. Somehow, we began to talk about God. I told him that I had fallen out of fellowship with God, and want to know the presence of God in my life. He prayed with me and for me. He told me I can come by his work-place anytime I wanted to pray with him. He gave me his phone number. I was so overjoyed, I actually started crying right there, in front of my co-workers. I actually had someone to talk to, who wanted to work with me on the return to God.

A week later, I needed to go to that guys’ work place to buy an additional bottle of acetylene gas. While my order was being filled, I went to that guy. Instead of shaking my hand, I was met with a great deal of hostility. It turned out that he was also a prayer partner with one of the well intentioned dragons who told me my family would be better off if I were dead. I saw genuine hate in this man’s eyes. He let me know what that well intentioned dragon had told him. I was devastated that in an instant, a person I just met, who would pray with me, would turn on me with such vengeance.

My wife had a heart attack.

While she was in surgery, and I was waiting in the waiting room, I was told that one of my wife’s friends wanted to talk to me. I got her phone number, and after I got home, late that night, I called her. It started out alright. I wanted things to go well, as I have always admired this person. I mean I genuinely loved this person. The conversation suddenly turned ugly. She let me know that there is no way that healing in my relationship with my wife would happen. That this friend had been trying with all her might to get my wife to leave me and move in with her. I was, once again, informed that the local world would be better off if I just went away.

I think it was this turn of events, my wife having a heart attack, her friends and relatives continually letting me know that it would be best if I just went away, seeing the dark hearts of Christians who couldn’t forgive, that I knew then I was genuinely lost to God.

I wrote in another installment on Forgiveness how to return to a forgiven state, and how to forgive. The above events in my life are where I had to learn this process.

1. I turned to God. I had to get back to the fundamentals of the faith, here. I confessed that I know there is a God. I confessed that I know that this God is THE creator, the great I AM of Scripture, the one who created us Humans. I confessed that man fell from God just as I had fallen from God. I confessed that God gave His only begotten Son to die for the sins I have committed, so I will not have to face God’s wrath, but have eternal life in Jesus Christ. Then I confessed my anger.

I was angry at me. A Lot.

I was angry at Christians who could not offer a healing hand, but offered only condemnation. I was angry, angry, angry. It was a deep and abiding anger that burned hot. This was the hardest thing for me to face. My anger. God showed me how my anger does not further the Kingdom of God.

Until I could learn to place that at the feet of God, and let Him take it out of my heart, there would be no further progress in my restoration to Him. Period. This kind of anger has no place in the Kingdom, and I cannot return to the service of God if I insist on being angry. It took from around 2007 to 2012 to work through that. But God did His wonderful work in me, and helped me be rid of that hate and anger. It is gone, now. It is a distant echo. God has shown me what I need to learn from it, and has healed me. The lesson I learned here is, I cannot turn to people for help. I must first turn to God. People will be too married to their opinions and agenda to be able to help. And I learned that that, too, is OK. We are all human, and have things to work out with God. It is not my place to judge them, or be angry with them.

2. BE WILLING. I was in love with my anger. It was all that drove me. I had forgotten that there is more power in a whisper of God’s love than there is an a ton of anger and hate. So this was a hard one foe me. Here were people speaking death into my life, into my marriage, and “In the name of the Lord” letting me know just how irredeemable I was. I was hurt, disappointed, angry, and these feelings had become so familiar, and so normal to me, that letting go of them was worse than having surgery with out pain killers. (That happened to me once, it was awful).

But, Just as Jesus prayed in the garden, the night before His arrest, “Not my will, but thine.” It took a lot of work for me to be willing to give up my anger. I loved having an excuse to throw tantrums. But God wanted to turn me into a man of God, not a child of the world. I had to be willing to release that anger, hostility, rage, and resentment of all those well meaning dragons. And, with the power of God’s grace, I did, and do, and will. I willed that my will align with God’s will. Not for their snakes, but mine. My attitude had no place in God’s will for my life. If I want to truly return to Him, I had to let go of anger. And the more my will aligned with God’s desire for my life, the more anger diminished, until it was only a memory. And I was surprised by the intense JOY that replaced the anger. Obedience to God brings joy, even when you think your world is going to hell. I understood grace. I felt mercy. From there, it was a simple thing to let go of my hurt and anger, and forgive all the well intentioned dragons. It is easier to accept those Christians who speak death in my life. They honestly think they are doing the right thing. How often had I thought that about my anger and hurt. I get it. We are all saved, but we are all incomplete. We are all having to grow. Now I am able to understand what Jesus meant when he prayed on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I AM FREE!. I AM FREE! I AM FREE!!! Free to dive deep into the word of God, free to love. Free to pray for those who hate me. Free to serve God. Free to pray with my wife, who has forgiven me my sin. What a joy it is to be married to the most incredible woman in the world. I could search all my life and not find a woman as wonderful and great as she is.

I have given up “my right” to anger and hate, and unforgiveness. For the first time in 20 years, I feel free, loving, forgiven, and I feel hope. I feel JOY. I can dance with King David and sing that the Lord my God, the Living God, has restored my soul.

It doesn’t matter one whit what people will say to you, about you, against you. There is NOTHING on this earth you can do about it EXCEPT FORGIVE THEM. Then you can let it go, and you will find you actually really love these well intentioned dragons. REALLY love them and care about them.

The are just as fallen as you are. You need to worry about your own walk in the Lord. Even if you have to do what I did and return to the fundamentals and grow from there.

I have not ever felt this freedom before. EVER. What a glorious God we serve. What a powerful God he is that he can root out my sin and hold me close, and tell me he loves me. It no longer matters who else loves me, not now that I know where I stand with God.

Listen, people who have their minds made up about you will only change when God deals with them. Not a minute sooner. You may raise people from the dead, right before their eyes, and they might still speak death into your life. It is OK, the religious of Jesus’s day did the same thing.

Now, go, sit at God’s feet, and do business with the Lord. I can tell you, as one who has come out of that bath, it is good, it is joy, it is clean. God is GREAT. And I thank God for this freedom.

I really want to hear from you if you need prayer. I don’t care what evil you have done, I will not turn you away. I can do this because it is what God has done for me.

I genuinely love you in the Name of Jesus, and because of God’s great love in my heart.

Now, go be about it.

David G. Perkins.

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Faith, Uncategorized

The Jewels in Your Crown: Forgiveness, Part 2

“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matt 6:12 – Part of “The Lord’s Prayer” given by Jesus Christ

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matt 6:15-16 – Spoken by Jesus Christ

I apologize for the inevitable length of this installment. I am doing my best to condense this without leaving out the important stuff. There will be other parts following this one, but this part will help complete the groundwork of the battlefield of life where Forgiveness is our greatest weapon.

A great deal of this depends on you. It depends on the state of your heart, and your willingness to genuinely forgive. I will be covering this in this installment. I appreciate your patience and indulgence with the length of this article.

In part one I covered a few of the stumbling blocks in our daily walk in Christ, where it comes to forgiveness.

1. Being willing and desiring to forgive. It is MY WILL that is forgiving or unforgiving.

2. Rehearsing over and over again the litany of wrongs done to you.

3. Pride – the belief that the person who offended you ought to know you are offended and ought to come to you to ask for forgiveness, that YOU shouldn’t have to go to them. (This one is a whopper, as Jesus himself went to the people who needed forgiveness instead of the other way around.)

4. Fear – Fear of being taken advantage of, Fear of rejection, fear of being misunderstood.

Most of our unforgiveness toward others can be boiled down to these 4 things. I have no doubt you can come up with more than this list, but I think these are the roots of unforgiveness.

Sometimes these stumbling blocks hang around, impeding your walk for various reasons. Perhaps you have to continue to forgive someone who insists on hurting you. Perhaps you are angry at them, or angry for some other reason. Perhaps you harbor anger and don’t even know it.

Before anyone decides I should walk in their shoes, let me tell you. I have been hurt deeply by people I love completely. The details are none of your business, but I genuinely do understand the intense pain of betrayal, of intentional deception, of abandonment by brothers in the Lord. I have been disowned, cursed, gossiped about, lied to, and some have done far worse things than this to me. So believe me when I tell you, I understand the pain of the deep hurt by loved ones.

When this type of hurt happens, you feel as if you are in an explosion. Nothing is the same again, ever. It takes time even to realize how real this situation is. It takes time to regain your bearings from the intensity of this sudden hurt. Your friends may abandon or betray you, your loved ones will offer you anything but hope and mercy and grace. Those closest to you will judge you.

These are hurts that take time to get over. The hard part about this hurt is, if you are not careful, you will let anger and bitterness grow roots and take over your heart and mind. When this happens, your ability to love and trust and commune with the Living God is impeded by the bitterness that flows in your veins.

I am begging you today, if this is you, find a way to stop yourself from getting deeper involved in the anger and bitterness. The last 20 years of my life are the result of me losing my bearings, and taking matters in my own hands.

When Jesus was instructing the disciples on how to pray, He included this phrase, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matt 6:12. After that, He continued to instruct his disciples saying, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matt 6:15-16

You will know when you have unforgiveness because your joy in the lord is diminished, your communion with Him feels incomplete. You have a stumbling block keeping your walk from being joyous,, fulfilling and growing. You are at a standstill with God.

Listen to these hints from the Spirit of God. If there is unforgiveness between you and God, it is likely because you have unforgiveness between you and someone else. Or unconfessed sin. God will wait right there with you, as long as it takes until you take care of your business. The good news is that God will be with you because He always empowers obedience to Him.

If God acted in any other way toward you, while you hold bitterness and unforgiveness and anger in your heart, then He would be contradicting His own nature. He would be condoning sin.

Jesus taught that we reap what we sow. An unforgiving spirit affects every aspect of your life. It will come back to you with interest. When it does, this is when anger and bitterness can set root.

An unforgiving spirit will generate in you a critical spirit. Unforgiveness is detrimental and destructive, and will influence everything else you try to do. If you find yourself being overly critical or overly cynical, there is a chance you are harboring unforgiveness, that has given root to bitterness.

When Jesus was teaching the disciples about forgiveness, Peter (A man I can clearly identify with), asked Jesus: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”

“Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Matt 18:21-22

Was Jesus telling Peter you have to forgive someone 490 times, then all bets are off? No. Forgiveness takes practice, and Jesus was telling Peter you must forgive repeatedly. The good news is that, the more you do it, the better you get at doing it.

In other words, Jesus was telling Peter, and the others, that there is no measuring rod. I can tell you that, by the time you get in to the habit of forgiving, you actually lose count. We do not return insult for insult, but we bless those who curse us, and pray for those who despitefully use us. When you get in this habit of this kind of Grace and Mercy, forgiveness will grow in your heart until you have a joy about forgiving. In other words, When you can learn to forgive, you will find there is NO LIMIT on forgiveness.

Forgiveness comes from your heart, not your lips. How many times has someone said or done something to offend you, and immediately they said “I’m Sorry”, and you said “I forgive you”. Then after they left, you couldn’t wait to tell everyone you know how you were wronged?

So the burning question here is, since Jesus has forgiven you ALL you have done against God, how many times and things will you forgive others?

Unless forgiveness comes from the heart, it is not forgiveness. You don’t really have to forget, either. If it is genuine forgiveness, when it comes to your mind later on, it will be in the form of lessons learned.

To not forgive means you would rather wear the chains of slavery to anger and bitterness. Some people actually fall in love with their anger and bitterness. It gives them something to wallow in as an excuse to not do business with God. It feeds our vanity to be this way. We get to present ourselves as the wronged ones, and try to illicit sympathy form others, so you can look like you are really suffering for your faith.

THIS is really a faithless act, and is sin, too. It is pride and fear that keeps you in chains.

Who are you angry with? What did they say or do that means they can never be forgiven? What have you said or done that means God can never forgive you? Do you want differential treatment over this issue? In order to be forgiven, you have to forgive. You cannot get rid of this anger or hurt by running away from it. You have to put your offering down and go deal with it. You have to let the Holy Spirit deal through you for healing to really happen.

Hurt is hard, Especially when it is repeated hurt, willful hurt, intentional hurt. No person who deeply loves can just switch off the hurt. It is a process. It may not come instantly.

Here is the process that leads to forgiveness. You may have to do this every 5 minutes, or every day, or as often as it takes until the Spirit of God has worked in you to forgive.

STEP 1: ANGER You have to acknowledge your anger. Confess it before the Lord. Lay it at His feet. He loves you and cares for you.

Make this confession after you have asked forgiveness for sin and anger: “Because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, I have experienced God’s total forgiveness in my life”. “I have been saved by his grace, His love, and His mercy.” “All of my forgiveness has come from God.”

FORGIVENESS is one of the very first gifts God gives you. Forgiveness is ongoing in your life, because you are human, and make mistakes. But God is HAPPY and DESIRING to forgive. It is His joy to do this in your heart. He will show you, that the forgiveness that began at the Cross, is still going on today, in you, in your life. He will give you the gift of forgiveness. Do business with God first. Forgiveness is a gift that will grow in your heart the more of it you give away. God has been doing this for you every day of your whole life.

Make this confession: “I AM FORGIVEN!” Keep doing this until it becomes real to you. It is oftentimes a process. But the anger has to go away.

STEP 2: BE WILLING. Be willing to confess your anger, hostility, rage, resentment, and whatever feelings you have toward that person. Ask God to forgive your anger and hurt for that person. BE SPECIFIC. When you are specific, it breaks the bondage. You must be willing to deal with it specifically and personally. If you are genuinely confessing something, you have to deal with it. God will wait for you to do this, and He will empower your obedience.

STEP 3: THE WORD. Learn that your unforgiveness is a violation of the word of God. If I have an unforgiving spirit, I have sinned against God and others. Know what the Bible has to say about forgiveness and unforgiveness. Look it up in your Bible index. You have to know the word, confess the word, and recognize this in your heart. Out of the overflow of your heart, comes the issue of your lips.

STEP 4: ASK GOD to forgive you. Be specific about what you have said, or done, or felt in your heart against the person who hurt you. God will take that and relieve you of it. Confess all of it. You may have to do this a few times as things float to the surface.

There is nothing in the scriptures about CONDITIONAL forgiveness. The Bible doesn’t say, “Ask your brother to forgive you UNLESS…he rejects you, misunderstands you, or it is just too painful for you.” You will not find that in the Bible.

We are to forgive no matter what. No matter the outcome. No matter the consequences. Even if that person doubles up on your pain, forgive anyway.

So, here we are dealing with the root of the problem. It is an act of will that you forgive. It was an act of will that Jesus died for you. Jesus prayed at the garden, “Not MY will, father, but thine.” God helped Jesus align Jesus will with the father’s will. In the same manner, God will empower you to align your will with His if you ask from deep in your heart. You have to be willing.

You may have to go to that brother and ask him or her to forgive you for your unforgiveness toward him or her. You have an attitude in your heart. You have judged him unworthy of forgiveness. Even IF he has wronged you, you still need to go to that person and ask him to forgive you of your attitude for him.

Pray this: “By an act of MY will, Father, and by the power of the Holy spirit that lives within me, Father, I lay down my anger, my bitterness, my ‘right’ to be offended, my hurt. I lay them all down at your feet,.”

This stops being about your feelings when you do this. It becomes an act of your will. Say, “I choose to lay it down”. You will that God takes it from you. If you leave this at the Father’s feet, God will remove the hurt from your life. Acknowledge His forgiveness as you lay down your anger. There may be MANY people you are angry with. Be willing to do this for each and every one of them.

It is a process.

God will let you know if you need to go to that person or not. God will strengthen you to admit and gracefully confess to that person the conflict, as you seek forgiveness from that person about your attitude toward him.

If God sends you to that person, and you talk to him, DON’T ENUMERATE THE LIST OF THINGS DONE WRONG AGAINST YOU. Remember what it says in II Corinthians that Love does not keep an accounting of the wrongs done against it. God is Love, and His Spirit abides in you. You don’t need to rehearse all the wrongs done against you to that person. It will only make things worse. Confess the attitude you have had toward that person, ask his forgiveness for your attitude, and leave it at that. God will do the rest.

Genuine forgiveness does not build up a legal case, or a defense for your hurt, and say, “I will forgive you BUT.” There are no buts to forgiveness. You either forgive or you don’t. Forgiveness is an act of grace, mercy, and unconditional love. Forgiveness is given with no limitations or demands.

Don’t front-load your imagination about forgiveness. In other words, don’t try to predict what his reaction will be. You may be surprised at his reaction.

When you genuinely forgive others, not only do you set yourself free of the chains that bind your walk with God, but in the act of forgiving, you also set that person free of those same chains.

There is a true and genuine feeling of freedom when you allow God to work in you to remove the stumbling blocks of unforgiveness and anger. I know this because I have been doing this. The more I do this, the more free I feel in my heart and soul. Anger becomes a last resort for me, instead of a first reaction.

BUT SUPPOSE THEY LIVE 1000 MILES AWAY, OR ARE ALREADY DEAD?

Ask yourself, “Is the unforgiveness still in my heart?” If the answer is “yes” then you have a stumbling block. Forgive them anyway.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Get two chairs. Set them 2 feet apart facing each other. You sit in one, and and you imagine that that person is sitting in the other one. Tell that person exactly what you would say if they were really sitting in that chair. Confess your attitude. Ask forgiveness. Chances are, if that person were a real difficulty in your life, you will have to do this several times before it gets real, and you forgive. Just do it. Ask their forgiveness for your attitude. (I got this exercise from Charles Stanley).

Once you deal with that issue, claim the forgiveness by faith. then tell yourself, “That is the end of THAT!” If it turns out that it is not the end of that, do it again until it is. I promise you, one day, you will get up from that chair, and you will be genuinely free of unforgiveness.

HOW Will I KNOW WHEN I HAVE REALLY FORGIVEN THEM?

I’ll tell you how you will know. And I have experienced this repeatedly, so I know this is a fact.

The next time you think about them, there will not be any “static” in your heart toward them. You will have a sense of freedom from that burden. The harsh feelings are gone. You will feel compassion for them and hope the best for them. Somehow, you will be able to accept them as they are. If the grievance is over a terrible wrong this person has done, let God have His way with that person. It is not your place to hold unforgiveness.

When you are really and truly set free, you will be able to say in your heart, “Thank you God for teaching me about your grace. Thank you for this lesson I would have not have learned if you had not brought me through this. You have genuinely turned my curse into a blessing.”

This is not a one time thing. You will have to forgive over and over in your walk. How many times? 70 X 7.

I love you in the Lord.

Let me know if you need prayer for anything.

I am your little brother in Christ Jesus.

David G. Perkins

Faith

The Jewels in Your Crown: Forgiveness Part 1

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. EPH 4:32 KJV

Definitions:

kind – χρηστός – chrestos – good, be ye good…., gracious, be ye gracious…., easy, take it easy on each other.

tenderhearted – εὔσπλαγχνος – eusplagchnos, – pitiful, tender-hearted. Have pity. The Greek workd picture here is a picture of it coming from your guts. The Greeks felt that strong emotion, passion and genuine emotion came from your guts. Have pity flowing out of you. Have tenderheartedness flow from you.

forgiving – χαρίζομαι – charizomai – to grant as a favor, that is, gratuitously (freely, undeservedly), in kindness (see def above), pardon or rescue: – deliver, (frankly) forgive, (freely) give, grant.

Keep on becoming kind to each other. Have pity, and favor, and grace, however undeservedly, forgive even as God forgave you for the sake of Christ.

A few years ago, a brother in the Lord told me he forgave me. He had been very angry with me. Somehow I was not convinced that he meant it, but I accepted the effort, as I love this person, and want to grow in the Lord with him. Later on, I went to his property to help him with an electrical problem. I did the work, shook his hand, and left. That evening, someone else told me that the whole time I was there, he was bad mouthing me to anyone who would listen, and that he had been bad mouthing me all over town. As I suspected, I knew that that brother was still angry with me.

Forgiveness isn’t easy.

I am not talking about whether I forgive him, because I honestly do. I honestly love this person. I am telling you something that I would normally not consider any of your business in order to illustrate a point.

Forgiveness is not easy.

The root of unforgiveness is anger.

The root of anger is fear.

Anger is a chain that binds you to sin. Sometimes we get angry with others over things we know we ourselves are tempted to do. Sometimes we get angry for a genuine wrong committed. Sometimes we get angry because we are afraid. We know in our heads that perfect love casts out all fear. But how do we get that into our heart? How do we let go of Anger?

It is a process.

Some people do not even know they harbor unforgiveness. They remain slaves to the unforgiveness. Unforgiveness will stop you from growing spiritually. Eventually, the poison of unforgiveness will consume you untill you become heard hearted and bitter. It will rot your bones.

So a decent definition of Anger that leads to unforgiveness is that Anger is a strong feeling of INTENSE displeasure or indignation or hostility as a result of a real or imagined threat (fear), or insult (pride), or frustration (impatience), or injustice toward yourself or someone who is very important to you.

Forgiveness is the willful giving up of that rage, displeasure, indignation, hostility, threat, insult and frustration. You give up the “right to get even”.

Unforgiveness is a deliberate refusal to forgive. It is the belief that you have the right to hold a grudge because: Someone has got to pay!, He has hurt me. , She lied to me. , She said I was this or that., She didn’t say “HI” to me yesterday., He is two faced., He lies about his faith by saying one thing and doing another.

However, saying you forgive, and experiencing it are two different things.

Forgiveness says, “I give up my right to pay you back.”

Look at the book of Mark 11:25 –

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your tresspasses. But if you do not fogive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your tresspasses. Mark 11:25

Until we can forgive, we have to lay down our progress, our gifts to god, our growth in the Spirit of God, our effectiveness to demonstrate grace, love and mercy.

What are the obstacles to Forgiveness? There may be many, but they can be reduced, by thoughtful analysis to 4 things:

1. YOUR WILL – It ias to be your WILL and Desire to forgive. Unwillingness and not wanting to forgive are deliberate acts. You have to do this on purpose.

2. PRIDE – The arrogance of pride gives you the self righteous attitude that says, He or She should come to me to ASK for forgiveness. I shouldn’t have to go to them. Or if you are the one who needs forgiveness, you say to yourself, “Sure it bothers me that this happened, but I don’t think I did any harm, and besides, I was right when I did it.”

3. REHEARSING – This one is something every humand being does. This takes real discipline to overcome, and can be overcome by a lot of prayer, and realization of just how much GOd has forgiven you. The more you go over it in your mind, the farther from grace you get. You rehearse in your mind and heart the wrongs or offenses done against you. This will only strengthen the chains that bind you, and will eventually become a poison that turns into a well spring of bitterness. The Joy of the Lord evades you. happiness becomes a memory. Anger becomes your reputation. You get stuck right where you are in your spiritual growth. Eventually, you become content with stunted growth, or your heart becomes so hard that you no longer desire a working relationship with God.

4. FEAR – Wether you are the one who needs to forgive, or needs forgiveness, FEAR can stop you dead, too. Maybe you are afraid you will be taken advantage of by the person that you need to do business with. Maybe you have a fear of being rejected. Perhaps you are afraid of rejection. These fears are real, and it is possible that these things will happen. But you have to have the courage to face this fear and do the right thing. THere is nothing you can do to control the reactions of others. You can only obey God, and leave the rest to him. This is letting go of fear.

Dealing with these 4 things above will give you FREEDOM from the enslavement of Anger and Fear. It will free you from the spirit and heartlessness of Unforgiveness. The flow of living water will return to you, and you will know the joy of your salvation again.

Sometimes forgiveness is stalled by the following things:

Friendly but bad advice. Your brothers and sisters in the lord love you, and they mean well, but they are just as human and fallible as you are. They will tell you, “Well, if I were you, I’d…”, or “He needs to suffer…” “Why don’t you just leave him, he is not good for you…”, or “Buddy, we need to go have a talk with him ‘in love’ and straighten him out”

Have you been told this? Have you said it to others. Friends mean well. You should always be glad of the number of friends you have. But you MUST ask yourself, “Is this FRIENDLY advice GODLY advice?” Do nothing that will contradict the nature of God, or reflect poorly on your walk with God. Taking matters in your hands, with the heart felt endorsement of your friends, is till wrong.

PARTIAL FORGIVENESS.

Maybe he or she did several little things, or one big and several little ones, or some combination like that. Do you list them (rehearse) and say, “Well, I can forgive that, but not this, and I can forgive those, but not these!”? Partial forgiveness is just like partial obedience. Partial forgiveness IS unforgiveness. Partial obedience is DISOBEDIENCE. Don’t take half measures when God showed His love for you by going all the way to the cross for your sins.

MAKE EXCUSES. This little fox is a sly one.

This is what some people do to avoide genuine forgiveness. They might say things like, “THey probably didn’t mean that.”, or. “It was probably a mistake.”. If you use excuses to justify someone elses wrong, not only are you deluding yourself, and setting yourself up for more of the same, but you short circuit your ability to discern between right and wrong, and you stop the other person’s chance of learning from his mistakes. Forgiveness is just as much an act of love, as it is an act of grace. When you love the unlovely, it pours coals on his heart, and will ultimately lead him to repentance. This is the same behavior you hear about when you read the testimony of the battered woman. She made excuses for the batterer. Forgiveness is not for sissies.

Unforgiveness puts you in danger of the judgement of God. “But if you do not forgive neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your trespasses ” Mark 11:25

You risk your growth in the Lord. You risk having God stop dealing with you until you have done business with those who you need to forgive, or who you need to seek forgiveness from.

Forgiveness sets you free. It cleanses your soul. It teaches you about Godly love in a way that no other action will. You will become like Jesus Christ the more you obey.

I will finish this up in part 2, at least this part of the facet on the gem that is Forgiveness. There is more, and it is not all fire and brimstone. Hang in there. It gets better.

OH! And yes it is a process. How long does it take until you can come clean and forgive? I don’t know. Sometimes it takes a long time. It took me a very long time to forgive someone I used to know. The hurt was deep, and God had to do a work in me. With that brother who said he forgave me, but didn’t, I am good with that, and I forgive his dishonesty, and his gossip. I am free of the harm he has done. I love this person and would take a bullet for him without hesitation.

I have to keep in mind this verse: Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others. Ecc 7:21-22See you next time for Part 2 of this facet on Forgiveness.

I love you

David Perkins

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Faith

HOW GOD SEES IT

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3: 5 & 6 NASB

HOW I SEE IT
When someone reading your blog describes it as “interesting”, they mean, “Which Zoo donated the monkey for this experiment?” In certain countries, my writing is considered a social disease, and it might be the real cause of all the trouble in the Middle East. None-the-less, I have actually had 10 readers, and a couple of them are now subscribers. Please accept my gratitude, the check is in the mail.

HOW GOD SEES IT
A recent career debacle has left me seeing that, after almost 20 years doing the same thing, I suddenly have to reinvent myself. What I wanted to do when the rug was pulled was to run around like my hair was on fire, panic, grow a healthy crop of ulcers, and basically be an insomniac. What I did instead was pray. Really, I prayed. And, this is the truth, I immediately felt a peace about all of this. I knew that since I was radioactive in my career, I would not be able to do what I had been doing anymore. I had to be remade. I wasn’t worried because, after 20 years of running from God, I had spent the last 4 years slowly returning. I found out when I did that that I had not done anything but cross the palm of God’s hand. Some of my recent blogs described my return to God, and how you can return too.

So, here I am, career-less, and wondering what to do. My wife and I prayed and prayed about this. Just a couple of weeks after being home, in between job searches, I had the overwhelming compulsion to start writing again. I had not written a thing in 20 years. Writing was not even my first love. Music was my first love. But, suddenly, I got an overwhelming desire to sit and write. So, I prayed again. God let me know through several confirmations that I am to write something every day. Not only that, I am to write a blog.

I know this might sound crazy to you, but eventually, you will see that this stuff really happens. It happened to me. Here is where Proverbs 3:5 & 6 comes in to play. I needed a new path, and God has given me a thing to do. I am doing it. I honestly do not understand the why’s and wherefore’s of this, but one thing God has made clear to me, I am to write.

I am writing this for you. I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you have been through, or are going through. But I know that, as I obey God and write, He will empower my writing. He will do this because of you. Like me, you had given up on God, friends, family, and basically life itself. To tell the truth, that 20 years of working in various jobs, for various companies, doing the same or related things, was not even related to who I really am, or what I really want to do with my life. Chances are you are there now.

God restores all of us if we let him. He is calling you. The reason I am doing this blog is two fold. 1. I am obeying God. 2. God wants you to know you are not alone, that someone out here gets it. And he wants you to know that He cares for you, and wants you to come home.
You do not even have to clean up to return to Him. He will take care of that for you. All you have to do is come home.

HOW I HOPE YOU SEE IT
Personally, I hope my blog eventually takes off, but that is not my real goal. Over time I will be writing about several issues that may reach you. This is for you, not me. What I want out of this exercise is irrelevant to what God wants to accomplish.

You see, a revival is about to break loose, and God wants you to be a part of that revival. You have a role to play. You and I have to put down all our anger, desire for revenge, hate of the church, grudges, and whatever sin besets us. We need to get our own lives in order so God can equip us to lead in the upcoming revival.

By my own understanding of things, I should be panicking because 8 weeks later, I am still unemployed. But as I understand God, I simply have to trust Him, and HE will direct my paths. This is what He wants to do for you, too.

I have no illusions about being a “Great Writer“, but I know this is what I am supposed to be doing right now. I am doing this out of Love for God, and in obedience to Him, and out of a genuine desire to see you return to God, too. I do this because God has changed my heart. I no longer feel the anger I felt. I no longer hate. I now love because He who is in me IS love. And I love you, and want to see you join the battle and lead from the front in the upcoming revival.

Who ever you are, I hope this letter finds you.

Your Brother in Jesus Christ

David
sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Faith, Observations, Uncategorized

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

A long time ago, while I was trying to be a student at Seminary, I attended a small church in Fort Worth, TX. This particular church had more Seminary professors per square foot than almost any other church in Fort Worth. I always wondered why this church was as small as it was. The Pastor, another Phd. grad from Seminary, was trying with all his might to get this church to wake up and get about the task of evangelizing.

The Pastor was really working on this, one Sunday morning. His sermon was full of urgency for the call of Christians to obey the will of God. While he was preaching, the free verse narrative came to my mind. When I originally posted this on my old web site, I thought I was giving a clarion call to the church. What I only recently came to understand is…

…God was talking to ME.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

I was lying there in the garden, almost asleep. A man came up the pathway, stopped and leaned his hands on the gate. He looked around and asked if the garden was mine. I told him it was not mine, butI was keeping it for my Master. He asked if I knew much about gardening.

“Well, of course I do!”, I replied.

I told him that I had been to the best schools of gardening, and would probably forget more about gardening in one day, than he would learn in a year. Inundated him with a deluge of information from my knowledge of gardening. I felt that would surely quiet my unwelcome guest.

There was a moment of silence. Perhaps I had been too hard on him. I felt justified, though, he did disturb my rest.

He looked at me and said:

Have you been a gardener so long, yet without fruit?

Do you know all about the soils, yet have not tilled one foot of furrow?

Are all the seeds familiar with you, but you have not put one in to the ground?

See, the weeds outnumber the leaves on the trees, the thistles are more abundant than the flowers.

What kind of Husbandman would let his masters’ garden fall to such disarray?

You boast of being a gardener but have no fruit for all your knowledge.

How sad for you when the Master comes to judge the fruit of your labor.

I sat there in stunned silence, at a complete loss for words. I noticed, as he vanished before my very eyes, that the gate on which he had been resting was bloody from wounds that had pierced his hands.

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Faith

FAITH TO BE RECKLESS

“FAITH IS NOT BELIEF WITHOUT PROOF, BUT TRUST WITHOUT RESERVATION.” – Anon

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Heb 11:1 – ESV

FACTOID: “The assurance of things hoped for (elpizomenōn hupostasis). Hupostasis is a very common word from Aristotle on and comes from huphistēmi (hupo, under, histēmi, intransitive), what stands under anything (a building, a contract, a promise). ” From Robertson’s Word Pictures

In this case, it is used as a contract of deed. Faith is the TITLE-DEED of things hoped for. It is the document that states clearly that you can have confidence in God‘s promises.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Faith is the Title Deed That says, “Because you have believed in Jesus Christ, you have inherited eternal life.” Almost everyone knows John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That is the language of the Title-Deed.

The details of that title deed are detailed in the verses that follow:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:16-18 – ESV

Here you can see that there is spelled out a distinction between who inherits and who doesn’t inherit. Because you have believed, your first inheritance is Eternal Life. Those words are from Christ Himself. You can rest assured of your salvation, which is the language of the second half of the verse: “the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11:1 – ESV

The number of Humans who have been to Heaven and returned to tell about it are few and far between. Chances are that you and I are not in that group. Because we hold the title deed to an eternal life, we can hold to the conviction that it has already been granted to us. You don’t have to stop what you are doing and go see the real estate. It is already your inheritance. Nothing in the world can take your inheritance away because it was signed over to you in the blood of the one who promised it to you.

BUT WHAT ELSE?

THAT is the bazillion dollar question!

The reason we were not raptured the second we accepted Christ as our Saviour and Lord is because he has a work for us to do here. Jesus has given you the authority to do those things. Jesus said to the Disciples: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12 NASB

Anyone with one eye and half a brain can tell things are going terribly wrong on this planet. THe reason we are still here is so we can bring the gospel to anyone who will listen. We have been given the authority to do that by Jesus Himself. You do NOT need your church’s permission to obey Christ. You do not need anything but a solid understanding of the scripture and faith. And Jesus has guaranteed that you will have all the tools He had at your disposal, PLUS more.

These facts are in the Title-Deed of our inheritance. While we are still here on this planet, we have the promise of salvation, and the promise that, if we believe, and obey, we are empowered to do all that Jesus Himself did to bring others to Himself.

BUT IT IS HARD!

Yes. It is hard. And most likely, people will think you are insane. People will hate you. People will run from you. People will lie about you, try to trip you up, and basically call you nuts…and it may begin with your family.

I can attest before God, I have, on more than one occasion, seen people try to kill me for the sake of the Gospel, but God always delivers. In fact, one of the would be assassins became a Christian, and later his wife became a Christian. Today, they live in California, and have a pretty good church going out there. They reach people that most ordinary Christians would run in fear from.

These things can be done because FAITH is your Title-Deed that assures you that whatever you ask in Jesus name will be done for you, if you are praying in God’s will. This assurance is the conviction of the thing hoped for.

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “ – Mat 18:19 NASB

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” – Mat 7:7

“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” – Mat 7:8

BE RECKLESS ABOUT IT, TOO.

My favorite devotional is written by the daughter of Oswald Chambers. Chambers was the Chaplain for the British Airmen during WWI, while they were stationed in the Saudi deserts. Chambers wrote a diary that later became the famous devotional book called “My Utmost For His Highest”.

In several of the devotionals, Chambers describes this faith, this assurance, this conviction of things hoped for, as something we have to throw ourselves into with “reckless abandon”. Have no thought for yourself image, for your safety, for anything other than being willing to take that one step off the cliff, knowing that God is there to see you through to a path of His design.

There is a child like freedom in this kind of faith. When my daughter was a toddler, she had no problem or hesitation about running as fast as she could and jumping into my arms. She knew without hesitation that I would catch her. We have to put aside our practical worldliness. We have to put aside all concerns for how we will look to others. We just have to have the Joy of our salvation, and the faith that whatever it is that God asked you to do, you can do it with out fear or concern. Jesus promised you that you have eternity as your reward, and all the power in the Kingdom of Heaven to accomplish what God has asked you to do.

Do we really want revival? Start with yourself. Be recklessly abandoned to the assurance of the things hoped for, and stand on the conviction of the things not seen.

We need revival in this land. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do that thing that God has asked us to do. We can do this because we have our salvation. We have our salvation because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. The fields are ripe for harvest. Let’s be about it.

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Uncategorized

The Return To God: Part IV – God Will Send You …

I recently re-read the book of Exodus. Imagine how mind blowing it was to be Moses and go through all that. I got the following things out of that story of Moses on the Mountain with God (Exodus Chapter 3).

God will send you to do a task.

The craggy earth gave way to what appeared to be good grazing ground, and a pool of water. Mount Horeb was considered a holy mountain, but Jethro, his father in law, happened to have exclusive rights to that stretch of real estate. One minute, you are a prince of Egypt, and here you are, 40 years later, herding sheep that don’t even belong to you. But, since you married the bosses daughter, you need to do your share. Ahh Zipporah, what a babe. Moses knew he had really lucked out when he married her. In their more frisky moments, he called her “Zippo“, because she was such a fiery wench. Little did Moses know that Bikers all around the world would be lighting their cigarettes with a lighter named after her. Her fiery disposition could, however, be a bit difficult to deal with. She was a hometown girl, and had a good gig what with her dad being the High Priest of Midian, AND a wealthy land owner. She wasn’t all that impressed with that whole, “I USED to be a Prince in Egypt.”, thing. Oh well, the land of the Midianites wasn’t so bad, and life was sure simpler out here than it was in Egypt. OK, maybe people didn’t blow trumpets and bow every time you entered a room, but still, being the son-in-law of the boss had its’ advantages.

The sheep were irritable and wanted to stop, and were giving him little irritated glances that told him “A Shepherd SHEPS, so step on it!!” He let them find the grass, and decided he’d grab some water, eat a snack, and maybe relax a bit. But as he was walking to the pond, he saw a thing he never had seen before. A bright light, looking like fire, inside a bush, and the bush was not being burned. He definitely wanted to check that out, as all he had been seeing for days was the rear ends of sheep. The change of scenery was inviting.

He approached the burning bush with some sense of amazement. The closer he got, the faster he wanted to go. This is where he later wondered if he’s been better off taking that left turn at the base of Horeb. He heard a voice call to him, “Moses, MOSESSSSS!” (Well that’s how it sounded when Charles Heston was Moses, OK!) His left brain, the logical side, said in way that nasally way most tax accountants use when they tell you, “you cannot possibly deduct dental floss as a business expense!”, his left brain told Moses , “Shut up Moses! Don’t say anything, maybe the voice will think you didn’t hear it!“, but his Right Brain, not even being aware there are rules or social graces, said, “Here I am!!“. The left brain gave the right brain a glare that could melt tungsten. Left brain went off sulking as Moses took off his Mountain Climber Flip Flops.

We know what happened here, that God told Moses He had not forgotten His people, and that He was their God. That He had heard their cries for help, and that their Egyptian task masters were being cruel, and it was time for all that to come to an end. Then He told Moses this:

“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:10 ESV

Except for the sounds of a flame not consuming the bush, the only other sound that could be heard was the sound of sheep, nervously chewing the grass, and anticipating their first opportunity to be irritated at Moses, again. This will become a common theme in Moses life over the next 40 years. We can only hope he is taking good notes.

After looking around to make sure he wasn’t being mistaken for another Moses that might hopefully be standing right behind him, and seeing that he was, in fact, the only human being careless enough to go tromping around the Holy Mountain, Moses stood there with his mouth open, as if his jaw muscles had grown too tired to keep working, and were taking a coffee break.

He thought a myriad of thoughts that kept leaping and tripping all over each other. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Left Brain had not quite decided to let the whole Right Brain shouting out loud thing go just yet.

So, God waited.

He created Moses, just like he created the rest of us. He knew that Moses would need a moment to collect himself, and to get his thoughts, such as they were, under control.

Moses finally got a grip on himself enough to ask God some questions.

What ever it is that God asks you to do, He will be with you.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He (GOD) said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:11- 12 ESV

See, Moses hadn’t been a prince of Egypt for some time, as Zippo was often reminding him. Besides that, there was that whole, “I murdered an Egyptian Guard” thing. Zippo was always telling him, “Moses, Moses, that was such a long time ago. You don’t even look like the Moses on the wanted posters. THAT Moses was young and handsome! YOU look like…well, lets just say that you have a lot of inner beauty, OK? ”

Once Moses got past all the excuses he could think of to NOT be deliverer of Israel, Friend of God, Law Giver, and Holy Land tour guide, he realized all he had to do now was convince Zippo that: He had a nice chat with the Living God on a mountain, and God wants him to go back to Egypt to free the Hebrew slaved and lead them to Caanan so they can take the land back from the remnants of the fallen ones, and call it Israel. All I will say of that is that the ensuing conversation is where Zippo earned her reputation for being fiery. No one dared cross her after that.

God will empower you to do that task.

Moses said to God, “Ok, so let’s say that I actually get past the guards at the gate, then get past the security check point at the palace, and get past the palace guards that guard the throne room of Pharaoh, let’s say all that actually happens. I just go up to Pharoah and say “Let My People Go!” and he’s gonna go “OK, Sure!”??

I am going to look all jumped up and crazy. How is anyone going to believe a thing I say?

The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” (Moses) said, “A staff.” And (the LORD) said, “Throw it on the ground.” So (Moses) threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—” Exo 4:2 – 4 ESV

Moses was dumbfounded. THAT was some very cool stuff the Lord had in mind. Then Moses asked “Will this trick work on Zippo??”

God will never tell you to do something except that he will be there to see it through.

God let Moses practice that “stick to snake” miracle out a few times, just to make sure he got the timing down, and that Moses didn’t grab the wrong end of the snake. While he was warming up to this idea, he asked God, “So, I am going all by myself to confront an entire nation in order to free the Hebrew slaves?” God reminded him that, no, Aaron will go along to serve as Moses’s mouthpiece, but what’s more important is that GOD will be there all the time. He told Moses:

“So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.” Exodus 3:20

Don’t be afraid to do what God has called you to do.

“Let me get this straight,” said Moses as he practiced picking up the snake again. He got it backwards the try before and threw the snake down instead of throwing the stick down. That almost turned out wrong.

“After you do all these to miracles in Egypt, the Hebrews will let me lead them out of the land of Egypt and just follow me out the gates?”

At the risk of being overly redundant, God said: “And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. “ Exodus 3:18 -20 ESV

The Blessings don’t begin until you have walked in your purpose from God.

By this time, Moses was beginning to buy in to this whole, “Deliverer of Israel from Egypt” thing. He told God he will do it, had the afore mentioned “discussion” with Zipporah, and put his sandals back on. God told Moses he had made the right choice and assured Moses:

“And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” Exodus 3:21-22 ESV

OK, So I am not Moses:

But I am a child of God.

I was created for a purpose.

Now that I have returned to God, God will show me that purpose.

I may not be asked to do the mighty acts of Moses. But I know that the acts I will do will be because God will be there to work through me. He will lead the way for me. He will be ever present through the good stuff and the bad times. He will empower me to do the things he has asked me to do. The degree of the power I see God work will be in proportion to the degree I have faith in He who sent me.

This is the same for you.

No matter how crazy it sounds, do whatever God asks you to do. You will be blessed.

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Faith

The Ethics of Hell

[NOTE: I have kept a copy of this article preserved and encrypted in the event that it is somehow altered by a person or persons other than me.]

“Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. “Ecc 3:16 -17

THE SETTING:

Ray Charles can see that the Government of the United States has abandoned all that is holy, moral, legal and right. Oftentimes, I stand in stupefied wonder that “We the People” have let this happen.

The condition we are in today didn’t happen overnight, either. I remember vividly, in the 1960’s, when God was being kicked out of school. Today, there is a concerted and overt effort to remove Christianity from the common arena.

What dumbfounds me is that:

A: What passes for a representative republic openly demonstrates, with great pride, every effort it can to destroy all that was considered good, all that was considered right, all that is constitutional, all references to the Living God, and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

B: What passes for government today openly calls Christians, and tea party members “terrorists” while giving a free pass to the people who want to kill us.

And

C: We are tolerating this behavior.

MY REACTION

I have no doubt you are aware of the same things I am. This has been a real struggle for me. I was raised in the South where being an American is just as important as being a Christian. In fact, a lack of patriotism usually meant that your neighbors will question your salvation.

I was raised to believe that we are a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy. That the Constitution IS the baseline by which all laws are measured, and no law will exist that takes away from the constitution, in any form, shape or deed.

I was raised to believe it is honorable to die for your country, that the flag will not be desecrated under ANY circumstances, and that this nation exists because of the Living God.

Now that we have kicked God out of our lives, our nation has fallen to a very dark place.

So, my gut reaction is to be angry at the Government. My gut reaction, my real heartfelt reaction, is to take matters in my own hands. That is my gut reaction. I have this reaction because, in the 1980’s I swore an oath that includes this phrase:

“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.”

That oath keep crashing against the shores of my conscience, and I am overwhelmed with the desire to keep that oath.

There’s just one problem with that…..

THE ETHICS OF HELL

“The thief (Lucifer, Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came that they (you and me) may have life and have it abundantly.” Joh 10:10

This part took me a while to see. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am very patriotic, that I am very willing to risk my life for my oath, that I have been harboring deep hatred and resentment in both the government for all of its blatant display of corruption, and a nation that tolerates it.

But I took my anger to God.

And I prayed.

And prayed.

All this time, God listened to me rant and rave. My anger had been kindled, I wanted to pour out MY wrath on these people.

This is when God reminded me of the ethics of hell.

The enemy of God doesn’t care where fear, anger, confusion, distrust, and treachery comes from, AS LONG AS IT IS THERE. I might feel perfectly righteous being angry, but my anger tempts me to run into sin, and not wait on the Lord. No other patriot would blame me for my feelings, either.

This scripture came to my mind: “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Pro 25:28

Anyone of us can justify our patriotism. We can even look down our noses at anyone who doesn’t feel the same hatred and indignation of our corrupted government.

God showed me that my anger is misdirected and I was sinning in my heart by the things I imagined should be done to fix our government.

The ethics of hell means that you will be tempted to sin, and you will be able to justify it in ways that hardly anyone else could condemn.

My willingness to lose self control opened a chink in my armor. My anger was not God’s anger. My desires for action were not Gods desires for me. And no matter how well I could justify my attitude, all I did was open a door that allowed the enemy to breach the walls of my heart. And thoughts of evil piled on top of thoughts of evil, until all I became was an animal waiting to be unleashed to his prey.

Satan does not care how much you read the bible, pray, sing in the choir, as long as you are willing to be angry and sin. As long as you give harbor to fear and confusion, as long as you take your eyes off Christ, and look at the waves you are walking on.

Satan is the author of confusion. Satan speaks death in to everything he touches. Satan divides. Satan destroys. And he is especially happy when he can distract Christians away from God. Satan knows that if we ever stop being willing to sin, if we ever approach God and confirm God’s will on our lives, and if we ever remember that our first call is Love, then Satan loses this skirmish.

MY RESPONSE

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isa 1:18

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. – Rom 12:17 – 21

After praying, and God pointing out that my fleshly response will not please Him, I asked, “Then what should I do?”

God laid it on my heart that my anger does not serve the kingdom. That taking matters in my own hands is not the will of God. God reminded me of my calling, and the fundamentals of all of our calling. Those of us who seek the Lord with all our hearts, who know that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and have accepted that free gift of salvation, know deep down that God’s ways are not our ways.

It is the ethics of Hell that demands you take matters in to your own hands. It is the Ethics of Heaven that reminds us:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Eph 6:12

In God’s army, our battles always begins on our knees before Him. We are to listen to Him, and obey whatever he leads us to do, no matter how contrary it may be to our human reasoning. The mightiest weapons we have in God’s army is prayer and praise.

God reminded me of the battle in II Chronicles 20 (A good read), where the battle was not won with swords, but with praise. This is where we become the most effective in the service of God’s army. Praise and prayer will bring the changes we need in our nation. Unrighteous anger just adds to the overwhelming noise that exists on this planet. But prayer and praise are inhabited by the Living God.

Knowing this, then, here is what I did.

I prayed for the Salvation of Obama. I prayed to God, and the more I prayed, the more it made sense to love my enemy. I prayed for the House and the Senate, as well as the Judiciary. I prayed that the Spirit of God descend on them, and everyone in Washington D.C. that they will be convicted of their sin and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That the powers that be have the courage to face the consequences of their actions, and to confess to the Lord, who will be faithful to forgive them.

I prayed this prayer, and it was one of the hardest things to do to say that I genuinely love Obama and care about his eternal soul.

It is not my place to attack anyone in the government. Not even in my prayers. As a warrior of God’s army, my battle begins with me getting out of the way of the will of God, and praying for my enemies in a way that is pleasing to God.

It is the will of God that no man should perish.

But for the most part, I needed help from the Holy Spirit to teach me how to pray for people that I so sincerely despise. It is written:

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Rom 8:26

and

“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” 1Co 5:12-13a

Do I want my sense of vengeance, or do I want revival in the land? I want revival.

Revival will begin when I pray that God forgive my attitude, and when I ask God to fill me with HIS desire for our nation. If we pray for the tyrants who rule over us, we will see a revival in our nation. But this revival must first begin when we, as warriors to God, start the battle on our knees.

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Faith, Uncategorized

THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF PRINCESS CALLIE

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jer 29:11-13 ESV

I heard the plaintive cries of my cat Callie. Once again, she was standing in total immobility at the opened back door. She clearly wanted to go outside, but last time she made the attempt, a leaf fell off a tree, causing her to have massive heart failure. The fright was just too much for her. I, of course, applied CPR.

If you have read my earlier blogs on Callie, you know she has a certain…quality of personality ranging somewhere between stark raving fear, and unbridled panic.

I went to the door, that I had previously opened so she could go out, and waited for her to screw up the courage to do so. She looked up at me and meowed again. I knew she wouldn’t make a move unless I went out first.

I did.

She followed.

She called on me, and my presence gave her the courage to do what I wanted her to do.

Just like God has been doing for me.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psa 23:4 ESV

I needed steel toed boots when I researched this one. I’ll wait here while you get yours. (You can get a good pair at Orchelin’s).

This is dedicated to Cynthia and Sandy…Yes, I finally understand.

Proverbs 23:7a – For as he thinks within himself, so he is. NASB

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Alright, people, this is a LONG one. Go get something to drink, and maybe a snack.

“He saved us —not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy— through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5 HOL

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Editorial View Point:

INTRODUCTION:

Part A

SIN and sins – Or what was the whole Jesus thing for, in the first place?

So, now is the right time to ask “WHO really needs salvation, anyway?”

Short Answer: Humans.

All the World Guilty

So, now is the right time to ask “WHY do we really need salvation?”

How Do We Receive this Salvation??

OK, But what about all the sin I keep committing???

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Satan the Tempter:

Satan will tempt you using the word of God.

Satan Will Tempt You Over What God Actually Said

SATAN THE ACCUSER

SATAN WILL ACCUSE YOU TO GOD.

SATAN WILL ACCUSE GOD TO YOU

SATAN WILL ACCUSE YOU TO YOURSELF

WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY ABOUT YOU

THE ASSURANCE OF GOD’S GRACE

GOD CHOOSES TO FORGET YOUR TRANSGRESSION

HERE’S WHY

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